A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 


A  SON   OF  THE   AGES 

THE  REINCARNATIONS  AND 

ADVENTURES   OF  SCAR, 

THE  LINK 


A  story  of  Man  from  the  Beginning 


BY 
STANLEY  WATERLOO 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  STORY  OF  AB" 


Illustrated  by  Craig  Johns 


GARDEN  CITY        NEW  YORK 

DOUBLEDAY,  PAGE  &  COMPANY 

1914 


Copyright,  1914,  by 

DOUBLEDAY,  PAGE  &  COMPANY 

All  rights  reserved,  including  that  of 

translation  into  foreign  languages, 

including  the  Scandinavian 

Copyright,  1914,  by  the 
FRANK  A.  MUNSEY  Co. 


V     / 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction       . ix 

CHAPTER 

I.    The  Link 3 

II.    The  Axemen 25 

III.  The  Bowmen 48 

IV.  The  Clansmen 63 

V.    The  Boatmen 81 

VI.  The  Sowers       .     .     . 101 

VII.  The  Tamers 121 

VIII.  The  Deluge      ..........  145 

IX.  The  Kitchen-Middenites 165 

X.  The  Lake-Dwellers 191 

XI.  The  Armourers 212 

XII.  The  Sailors      .     . 237 

XIII.  The  Hercynian  Forest     .......  271 

XIV.  Alesia  and  the  End  .  .  298 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

"His  eyes  were  flaming,  and  his  teeth  shone  white 
.  .  .  We  were  alone  to  fight  it  out "  .  Frontispiece 

FACING   PAGE 

"With  long  poles  thrust  to  the  bottom,  we  guided 
the  boats  here  and  there  about  the  shallow 
waters" *  ....  90 

"  I,  too,  would  seek  to  learn  what  might  be  done  to 
make  the  wind  our  servant " 246 

"I  am  weakening  and  dying.  The  Valkyrie  are 
circling  in  the  sky "  .  .  . 324 


INTRODUCTION 

A  WASTE  of  waters  heaved  sullenly  beneath  a  dismal 
canopy.  Thin,  slimy  masses  floated  here  and  there  about 
the  shallows  of  a  little  cove  or  clung  to  its  sodden  beach. 
The  cove  led  into  a  bay,  which  opened,  in  its  turn,  upon  a 
vast  and  soundless  sea.  But  a  single  reach  of  land,  gray, 
flat,  and  lifeless  and  encircling  partially  the  cove,  was  all 
of  earth  there  was  in  sight. 

Close  above  and  all  about  the  huge  and  silent  mystery 
and  extending  outward  far  into  space,  was  a  steaming 
world  of  vapour,  condensed  into  enormous  clouds  beyond, 
an  enshrouding  curtain  over  all  beneath.  And  ever  this 
was  smitten  fiercely  by  the  distant  sun,  whose  rays  could 
not  yet  fairly  pierce  the  tremendous  depths,  yet  shone 
through  wanly  here  and  there  upon  the  sombre  scheme, 
sombre  in  its  awful  lifelessness  and  silence,  but  with  a 
promise,  indefinable  and  yet  assured,  of  life  and  light  to 
come  in  the  tremendous  future. 

And  eons  followed  eons.  Man  had  not  yet  measured 
time.  The  dateless  ages  passed.  The  vibrating  waves 
of  light,  of  heat,  of  electricity,  of  magnetism,  the  forces 
of  attraction  and  repulsion,  all  the  agencies  and  mysteries 
of  nature's  law,  laboured  ceaselessly  within  and  without 
the  forming  world,  making  for  life.  The  dense  exuding 
vapour  became  a  warm  yet  ever  present  mist,  through 
which  the  sun's  rays  drove  or  filtered  and  reached  the 

iz 


x  INTRODUCTION 

earth  abundantly.  The  world  had  shrunken,  yet  the 
outlines  of  the  bay,  and  even  of  the  little  cove,  were  there, 
though  otherwise  the  scene  had  changed.  The  floating 
protoplasmic  fragments  had  developed  into  a  higher  and 
far-extended  life.  No  longer  lay  the  waters  flat  and  mo 
tionless;  no  longer  was  the  land  a  dead  and  drear  expanse. 
There  were  waves  upon  the  seas  and  movements  showing 
life  there,  and  the  land  was  green  with  an  infant  vegeta 
tion. 

And  the  new  planet  rolled  through  its  allotted  orbit 
while  upon  it  were  wrought  the  endless  processes  of  growth 
and  transformation.  The  constellations  of  the  heavens 
slowly  changed  and  shifted  into  the  forms  and  places 
which  were  in  coming  ages  to  be  marked  and  named  by 
the  sons  of  earth.  Suns  flamed  and  faded  while  this  globe 
strained  toward  its  prime.  Life  advanced  with  an  over 
whelming  rush.  There  might  be  check  but  never  pause 
to  the  plunging  growth  from  the  primal  cells  which  had 
floated  by  the  sea  until  they  had  developed  a  looming 
vegetation  and  almost  brainless  monsters  in  that  lush  and 
growing  time. 

The  warm  waters  teemed  with  the  myriads  of  life. 
Strange  creatures  swarmed  the  seas  devouringly  or  nosed 
and  hunted  along  the  shores,  and  others  of  other  forms 
ranged  and  floundered  and  fought  in  the  depths  and  glades 
of  the  gigantic  fernlike  forests.  It  was  a  time  of  heat  and 
moisture  and  of  fierce  development,  terrible,  vast,  im 
posing. 

The  time,  uncounted,  yet  brought  relentlessly  its  trans 
mutations.  The  mottled,  changing  ages  still  trod  upon 
each  other's  heels,  and  reaction  and  condensation  came 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

into  even  the  law  of  life.  The  warm  seas  became  in  area, 
though  not  in  place,  much  as  they  are  to-day.  On  land, 
the  vast  fernlike  forests  lay  buried  deep  beneath  the  cov 
ering  surface  made  by  another  and  different  vegetation. 
The  reptilian  monsters  of  the  sea  and  land  had  almost 
gone,  and  in  their  place  ranged  the  great  creatures  of  an 
other  sort  and  type,  as  well  of  more  timid  life,  the  grass- 
eaters,  upon  whose  bodies  fed  the  savage  beasts  of  the 
new  epoch.  At  night  the  leaves  rustled  beneath  the 
tread  of  murderous  things;  the  air  resounded  with  the 
roar  of  the  great  cave  tiger,  the  growl  of  the  cave  bear  or 
the  cries  and  snarls  of  hyenas  and  the  yelpings  of  the  wolf 
packs.  The  green  plains  were  dotted  with  herds  of  little 
wild  horses,  the  aurochs,  the  urus,  the  ancient  elk,  and  a 
host  of  other  grazing  things;  wild  hogs  were  in  the  thick 
ets.  All  was,  life,  as  before,  but  life  of  another  kind,  one 
of  pursuers  and  pursued,  fierce,  strenuous,  bloody,  but 
with  more  to  the  brute  intelligence. 

There  were  vast  upheavals  and  fiery  rendings,  but  life 
insisted,  persisted.  Gnawed  by  tooth  of  glacier,  seamed 
and  ridged  by  abysses  and  upheavals,  the  planet  reeled 
through  space.  Life,  animal  and  vegetable,  retreated 
or  advanced  as  Nature  played  or  laboured  with  the  crust 
she  was  fashioning  and  refashioning  into  its  present  shape, 
even  as  she  still  makes  and  unmakes  continents  or  islands 
or  blots  them  out  at  her  will. 

But  life  went  on.  New  creatures,  tree-climbing,  ape- 
creatures  had  developed  from  one  of  the  lower  stems  of 
the  dim  past  and  had  become  distinct  from  all  other  liv 
ing  things.  Without  expression,  save  by  scream  or  roar 
or  chuckle,  helpless,  as  yet,  as  against  the  dangerous 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

beasts,  they  still  developed,  and  one  group  among  them, 
by  some  mysterious  happening,  outstripped  the  rest. 
Of  all  the  creatures,  those  tree-climbers,  far  from  the 
strongest,  possessing  not  greatly  more  than  instinct,  were 
yet  the  most  perceptive.  Mind  was  in  growth,  slowly, 
uncertainly,  but  still  in  growth.  Reason  fluttered  within 
dull  brains  ;  the  climbers  could  think  a  little.  Nature 
had  begun  upon  her  Masterpiece ! 


A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  LINK 

I  HAD  broken  my  thumb.  It  was  a  long  fall  and  not 
only  was  my  thumb  broken,  but  the  fingers  on  the 
same  hand  were  crushed  backward  and  so  sprained 
that  they  were  useless,  and  when  I  tried  to  climb  the  tree 
again,  to  renew  the  fight,  I  could  not.  I  do  not  know  what 
made  me  slip  and  fall,  for  there  were  few  among  the  treetop 
people  more  certain  upon  a  limb  than  I.  But  that  upon 
which  I  had  stood  was  old  and  it  may  be  that  the  one  to 
which  I  clung  was  rotten,  and  so  I  fell,  though  I  was  grip 
ping  the  other  hardly  with  the  fingers  of  both  my  feet. 

The  Brown  One  —  I  call  him  that  now,  to  distinguish 
him,  though  we  had  no  names  —  was  a  strong  creature, 
the  biggest  ape  in  all  the  forest,  but  it  could  not  have  been 
possible  for  him  to  throw  me  from  the  limb,  even  when  its 
slighter  upstanding  branch  which  I  was  clutching  with 
one  hand  proved  weak  and  faithless  as  I  lurched  and  slid. 
I  should  have  clung  easily  with  my  other  hands  —  those 
I  now  call  my  feet  —  and  uptwisted  myself  and  grappled 
him  about  the  legs.  Yes,  it  must  be  that  the  bark  came 
away.  That  was  why  I  fell  far,  head  downward,  with 
arms  outreaching  to  break  my  fall,  and  that,  so,  my  thumb 
was  broken  and  my  fingers  on  one  hand  bent  backward 
and  sprained  into  hurting  uselessness. 

It  had  been  the  start  of  a  good  fight.  It  was  all  be- 

3 


,-*•/: ;.;-:%:":i;  A;  SON: OF  THE  AGES 

cause  of  It,  as  I  will  call  her,  the  she  thing  who  was  the 
child  of  an  old  pair  who  had  a  nest  in  the  fork  of  the  tree 
with  the  noisy  leaves.  We  both  wanted  her,  the  Lrown 
One  and  I,  and  so  we  fought  for  her  on  the  big  limb  while 
she  screamed  shrilly  in  the  branches  above,  and  her  father 
and  mother  crouched  chattering  together  in  the  nest  of 
sticks  and  leaves  in  the  great  crotch  of  the  tree.  He  was 
very  old,  the  father  of  It,  and  could  no  longer  climb  well 
for  either  fruit  or  nuts.  He  was  forced  to  eat  such  ripened 
things  as  fell  to  the  ground,  and  the  grasshoppers  and  the 
little  creatures  which  came  out  of  holes.  But  he  was  most 
crafty  and  still  could  climb  the  tree  with  an  effort,  and 
so  continued  to  live.  He  was  not  quick,  though,  and, 
some  day,  one  of  the  hungry,  growling  creatures  of  the 
forest  must  catch  him  on  the  ground  and  that,  it  seemed, 
must  be  the  end  of  him. 

My  own  tree,  with  its  nest,  was  in  an  open  glade  of  the 
wood,  by  the  river,  not  very  distant  from  the  tree  of  the 
Old  One  of  whom  I  have  told,  and  before  this  time  I 
could  have  taken  It,  had  I  but  known,  for  she  was  full 
grown,  as  was  I,  and  once  when  I  had  met  her  in  a  tree- 
top  we  had  chattered  together  and  she  had  not  appeared 
to  be  afraid.  I  gave  her  fruit,  and  she  ate.  I  could  have 
taken  her  with  me  then.  I  wonder  why  I  did  not? 

Then,  days  later,  I  went  howling  through  the  treetops 
toward  the  home  of  the  father  of  It,  for  the  hunger  for 
companionship  had  grown  upon  me.  My  own  kith  and 
kin  were  dead  and  I  was  grown  big  and  strong  and  I 
wanted  this  one  she  thing  to  be  mine  and  in  the  nest  with 
me. 

It  was  a  very  good  nest.     I  had  made  it  carefully  and 


THE  LINK  5 

solidly  with  sticks  laid  across  and  interwoven  with  tough 
withes  where  big  limbs  joined  the  tree  trunk  until  they 
were  quite  a  platform  with  a  deep  hollow  in  the  middle, 
and  I  had  brought  twigs  and  leaves  to  cushion  the  hollow, 
in  which  I  could  curl  myself  down  and  sleep  most  com 
fortably,  far  out  of  the  reach  of  prowling  beasts  which 
came  beneath  at  night.  The  .tree  stood  alone  in  the  glade, 
and  this  was  good,  for  no  creature  could  reach  its  top  save 
by  coming  up  its  trunk.  All  we  feared  in  the  top  of  a  tree 
which  stood  by  itself,  was  the  rare  great  serpent,  which 
could  climb  and  could  even  pass  from  one  tree  to  another, 
though  not  so  swiftly  as  we.  But,  sometimes,  he  would 
surprise  one  of  us  asleep,  and  what  happened  then  was 
something  of  which  I  do  not  care  to  tell. 

So,  my  nest  was  a  fine  one  and  the  tree  was  near  a  great 
river  and  in  a  wood  in  which  were  fruit  and  nuts  and  many 
birds  and  where  the  roots  of  weeds  in  the  ground  were 
sweet  and  tender,  and  where  the  wild  ducks  and  geese 
laid  eggs  in  nests  by  the  water,  where  all  about  were 
many  things  to  eat.  But  the  she  thing  hunger  came 
upon  me  and  I  wanted  It.  I  went  through  the  forest  to 
get  her. 

I  scrambled  on  all  fours  from  the  trunk  of  my  own  tree 
and  from  the  glade  and  so  up  into  the  treetops  and  swung 
from  limb  to  limb  toward  the  house  of  the  Old  One,  where 
I  could  find  my  mate.  As  I  neared  the  place  I  checked 
myself,  clinging  to  a  limb  and  listening,  for  I  had  heard 
from  afar  that  which  I  did  not  like.  There  came  from 
where  stood  the  tree  of  the  Old  One  sounds  which  told 
their  story  well.  There  was  a  combined  roaring  and 
whimpering  and  squalling,  and  I  knew  that  the  squalling 


6  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

came  from  It.  I  could  not  tell  where  was  the  roaring. 
I  was  in  the  tree  itself  before  I  learned.  It  was  the  big 
Brown  One  who  was  roaring  in  anger  because  he  was 
baffled  in  what  he  sought.  My  It  stood  upon  a  limb  of 
the  tree,  clinging  to  a  branch  beside  her,  while  he  clutched 
another  and  strove  to  tear  her  away.  In  the  nest  the 
Old  One  and  his  mate  were  crouching  whimperingly. 
The  Old  One  could  not  fight.  He  was  too  weak. 

I  was  strong,  very  strong.  Once  when  the  dun  jackal 
—  the  half -wolf  thing  which  follows  the  big  tiger  and  bear 
and  leopard  and  gnaws  the  red  bones  after  they  have 
killed  and  eaten,  went  mad,  as  he  sometimes  does,  fear 
ing  nothing,  though  a  coward  at  other  times  —  sprang  at 
me  when  I  was  on  the  ground,  I  caught  him  by  the  throat 
as  he  leaped  and,  with  the  other  hand  gripped  on  him, 
tore  away  one  of  his  forelegs,  shoulder  and  all,  clear  from 
his  body.  He  raged  no  more,  and  it  was  good  for  all  of 
the  creatures  of  the  forest,  since  all  feared  him  when  he 
went  mad.  Yes,  I  was  strong,  but  I  was  not  stronger  than 
the  Brown  One.  I  did  not  know  that  yet. 

The  rage  which  came  upon  me  when  I  saw  the  Brown 
One  trying  to  carry  away  the  she  thing  I  wanted  is  some 
thing  of  which  I  do  not  know  how  to  tell.  I  would  have 
her  myself  and  I  would  kill  him!  I  roared  and  bellowed, 
and  clambered  downward  until  I  dropped  upon  the  limb 
whereon  he  and  It  were  struggling.  He  turned  in  a 
second  and  came  snarlingly  toward  me,  while  It,  still 
squalling  for  a  moment,  then  chattering  wildly,  fled  up 
ward  among  the  branches  and  then  into  another  tree 
and  so  out  of  sight  deep  into  the  forest.  We  were  alone 
to  fight  it  out. 


THE  LINK  7 

We  did  not  wait.  His  eyes  were  flaming  and  his  teeth 
shone  white  and  whetting  as  he  swung  toward  me,  and 
we  met  each  with  one  hand  grasping  the  nearest  branch 
for  support  and  the  other  free  with  which  to  fence  and 
clutch  and  tear.  I  caught  him  fairly  by  the  skin  on  the 
back  of  his  neck,  at  last,  and  pulled  his  head  toward  me 
and  with  my  teeth  tore  away  one  ear  and  a  strip  of  skin 
and  flesh,  though  he  bit  me  deeply  and  tore  me  on  the 
shoulder.  I  should  have  rent  at  his  neck  and  killed  him 
before  he  could  have  hurt  me  had  all  gone  as  it  should 
have  done.  But  the  slight  limb  clutched  by  my  support 
ing  hand  broke  at  its  base  and  I  was  swirled  off  and  hang 
ing  by  my  unprotected  feet.  In  an  instant  he  was  down 
upon  the  limb,  biting  and  tearing  at  them.  They  were 
slipping  and  I  could  not  lift  myself  and  it  was  beyond  en 
durance.  My  grip  relaxed  in  agony  and  I  fell  far  to  the 
ground  —  fell  to  tear  a  deep  gash  in  my  face  from  eye  to 
jaw,  to  leave  a  ghastly,  lasting  scar,  to  crush  my  arms  be 
neath  me  and  lie  there  stunned  and  with  the  fingers  of 
one  hand  helpless,  as  I  have  told,  and  the  thumb  so 
broken  that  it  lay  flat  and  distorted  across  the  palm  of 
my  hand. 

The  Brown  One  did  not  come  down  to  finish  me.  He 
scarcely  looked  at  me.  He  clambered  higher  up  the 
tree  and  leaped  into  the  next  one  and  was  off  into  the  for 
est  crying  out  triumphantly.  He  was  in  the  chase  of  It. 

I  lay  helpless  for  a  long  time.  The  Old  One  and  his 
mate  paid  no  attention  to  me,  but  crouched  there,  fright 
ened  and  gibbering  foolishly  in  their  nest.  At  last  I  tried 
to  rise,  and  got  to  my  feet  with  many  liftings  and  stood  by 
a  little  tree,  supporting  myself  with  my  uninjured  hand. 


8  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

Then  it  came  to  me  that  I  must  get  back  to  my  own  tree 
and  nest  at  once,  and  I  tried  to  climb,  so  that  I  might  travel 
through  the  treetops,  but  I  could  not  do  it.  My  injured 
hand  was  still  so  weak  and  lame  that  I  could  not  use  the 
fingers.  The  blood  flowed  through  the  great  gash  in  my 
cheek.  But  I  must  get  to  my  own  tree,  somehow,  else  I 
might  be  killed.  I  started  on  my  hind  legs,  bending  and 
supporting  myself  by  my  well  arm  and  hand,  but  it  was  not 
easy,  for  I  was  sorely  bruised  and,  though  all  of  my  kind 
walked  sometimes  upright,  or  even  ran  for  a  distance 
leapingly,  it  was  not  our  common  mode  of  travel.  Through 
the  treetops  we  could  pass  most  easily  and  swiftly.  I  do 
not  know  why  it  was,  but  I  think  that  I  had  somehow  ac 
quired  the  habit  of  walking  erect  more  frequently  than 
any  other  ape  I  knew,  though  forelegs  and  clasping  feet 
—  or  arms  and  hands  as  I  call  them  now  —  were  sure  and 
the  treetops  were  a  splendid  highway,  while  upon  the 
ground  it  was  rarely  safe. 

I  reached  my  tree  at  last,  almost  crawling,  and  weak 
and  sore,  and  tried  again  to  climb,  but  it  was  useless.  I 
could  not  grasp  the  trunk  and  lift  myself,  though  at  other 
times  it  had  been  but  play  to  clamber  up  to  where  the 
great  limbs  and  my  nest  were.  I  became  afraid.  Any 
of  the  fierce  beasts  of  the  night  might  find  me  lying  there 
and  kill  and  eat  me.  I  crawled  to  the  shore  of  the  river 
and  crouched  beside  it  and  let  my  maimed  hand  dangle 
in  the  cold  water.  That  seemed  to  make  the  pain  less. 
Then  the  darkness  came,  and  with  it  I  was  more  afraid. 
I  crawled  to  where  there  uprose  a  mighty  heap  of  tumbled, 
broken  rocks  and  wedged  myself  in  one  of  the  deep,  narrow 
hollows,  where  I  could  not  well  be  seen  from  the  outside, 


THE  LINK  9 

and  where  none  of  the  great  devouring  things  could  reach 
me  save  the  big  serpent  and,  it  might  be,  the  slender 
leopard.  A  bear  came  smelling  about  and  growled  in  his 
hunger,  but  the  passage  between  the  rocks  was  too  narrow 
for  his  huge  bulk.  Finally,  tired  and  suffering,  I  went  to 
sleep. 

I  must  have  been  near  to  death  from  exhaustion,  for 
when  I  awoke  the  sun  was  shining  and  the  birds  were 
singing.  There  were  many  birds.  The  prowling  night 
things  must  have  gone  away,  I  knew,  and  I  crept  out  into 
the  light  and  stretched  myself.  I  was  very  sore,  but  my 
hand  did  not  pain  me  so  much,  and,  after  I  had  drunk 
deeply  and  held  my  hand  in  the  water  again,  I  felt  a 
little  of  my  strength  come  back.  I  started  slowly  toward 
my  tree  and  on  my  way  found  berries,  which  I  ate.  I 
tried  to  climb  the  tree  again,  but  failed  at  first.  I  waited 
and  then  I  growled  and  crunched  my  teeth  together  and 
forced  myself  to  use  the  fingers  of  my  injured  hand, 
though  it  hurt  sickeningly,  and  gained  my  nest  at  last. 
I  was  safe,  but  I  could  not  rest  nor  lie  still  in  my  refuge. 
My  broken  thumb  was  throbbing  and  full  of  pain.  It 
still  lay  crushed  across  my  palm  and  was  swollen  and  dis 
torted.  I  licked  it  carefully  and  tried  to  press  it  back 
into  its  place,  but  it  would  not  go.  I  sat  upright  in  my 
nest  and  was  afraid  and  suffering  and  weak  —  I,  who  had 
been  so  strong! 

My  ears  were  strained  for  any  sound.  There  was  lit 
tle  to  fear,  for  only  the  great  snake  or  the  Brown  One, 
should  he  seek  me,  could  harm  me  where  I  was.  But  all 
the  time  I  listened,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  there  were 
many  things  about.  I  think  now  that  I  may  have  heard 


10  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

sounds  that  were  not,  for  my  head  was  queer.  Still,  I 
listened  all  the  while,  and  at  last  I  heard  that  which  I 
knew  was  real.  There  was  a  rustle  among  the  leaves  and 
the  breaking  of  a  twig  in  a  treetop  across  the  glade.  I 
peered  forth  anxiously  to  see  what  could  have  made  the 
noise.  I  did  not  like  it.  I  did  not  know  what  it  might 
be.  At  last  I  saw  something.  A  face  was  looking  at  me 
from  between  the  leaves.  It  had  big  eyes. 

Then  the  face  disappeared  and  I  waited  long  and  watched 
for  it  and,  at  last,  it  came  again,  and  in  another  place. 
The  light  reached  it  more  clearly  now  and  I  could  see  the 
face  of  It.  Then  something  happened  that  was  very 
strange.  I  forgot  my  aching  thumb,  my  head  was  clearer 
and  I  was  no  longer  afraid  of  anything.  I  was  suddenly 
glad  and  brave  and  almost  like  myself  again.  I  do  not 
know  why  that  feeling  came. 

I  called  aloud  to  It,  making  the  sound  we  all  did  when 
we  wanted  another  one  to  come.  She  did  not  answer  at 
first,  but  stayed  where  she  was,  peering  upward  and  back 
ward  through  the  wood.  Then  she  called  softly  but  still 
clung  to  her  safe  place,  still  looking  and  searching  back 
and  above  and  all  about  her.  At  last  she  seemed  assured, 
and  then  the  slim  creature  swung  from  her  perch  and 
slipped  to  the  ground  and  ran  across  to  my  tree  and  was 
in  the  top  so  swiftly  that  it  was  wonderful.  I  could  not 
climb  like  that.  There  was  no  other  ape  in  all  the  woods 
who  could  catch  her  in  the  treetops,  where  the  slender 
branches  intermingled. 

She  was  there  in  my  own  tree  and  near  me,  but  she  did 
not  come  to  the  nest.  She  ran  up  and  peered  down  at 
me  from  a  great  limb  above.  I  tried  to  climb  to  her  and 


THE  LINK  11 

could  not,  and  crawled  back  into  my  nest  again  and  licked 
my  swollen  thumb  and  mumbled  sickly.  She  sat  perched 
there  and  looked  down  at  me  and  said  nothing,  but  her 
eyes  —  they  seemed  so  much  larger  than  the  eyes  of 
others  of  us  —  opened  more  widely  still.  Then  she  made 
sounds  like  those  I  had  been  making  and  went  back  slowly 
to  the  body  of  the  tree  and  came  down  to  the  limbs  where 
my  nest  was,  and  raised  herself  and  stood  there  with  one 
hand  on  the  tree  and  looking  at  me  where  I  lay  so  nearly 
helpless. 

It  came  but  dimly  to  me,  but  I  knew  then,  more  than 
ever,  that  in  all  the  forest  and  in  all  the  hills  there  was  no 
other  she  thing  ape  like  her.  I  had  never  thought  of  that 
before.  Her  hair  was  short,  but  brown  and  glossy,  and 
she  was  oddly  slender,  with  a  less  protruding  stomach 
than  had  we  other  apes.  It  was  her  head,  though,  which 
was  most  unlike  the  others.  Her  ears  were  not  much 
outstanding  nor  were  they  ever  twitching  and  turning, 
her  under  jaw  did  not  protrude  so  much,  and  her  upper  lip 
was  not  a  bank  of  a  thing  extending  downward  from  al 
most  no  nose  at  all.  My  own  big  jaw  did  not  protrude 
so  much  as  did  the  jaws  of  many  of  my  kind,  and  my  upper 
lip  was  not  so  huge  and  wide,  but  I  was  a  monster  com 
pared  with  It,  and  my  upturned  face,  I  think,  more  like 
the  glaring  countenances  which  we  saw  when  the  big 
swimming  beasts  in  the  river  sometimes  thrust  their 
nozzles  out  of  the  water. 

And  her  eyes,  the  big  eyes,  were  as  dark  and  deep,  I 
thought,  as  the  water  in  the  spring  with  ferns  about  it 
behind  a  rock  where  I  often  drank,  and,  when  she  chuck 
led  and  chattered  at  anything,  there  came  lights  and 


12  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

twinkles  in  them,  just  as  there  came  to  the  deep  spring 
water  when  the  breeze  blew  upon  it  and  made  it  ripple 
and  change  in  the  sunlight.  Of  course  I  did  not  dream 
this  out  very  clearly  —  I  did  not  know  enough  —  but, 
even  before  this,  the  eyes  of  It  had  made  me  think  of  the 
spring  by  the  rock.  I  do  not  know  why  this  was  so.  Our 
eyes  were  not  like  the  water.  I  once  saw  an  ape  poke  a 
sharp  stick  into  the  eye  of  another  and  the  eye  went  away. 
But  I  had  poked  sticks  into  the  water  and  it  did  not  go 
away.  Why  should  the  eyes  of  It  make  me  think  of  the 
deep  spring  by  the  rock? 

She  was  never  gloomy  nor  sat  and  moped  as  did  many 
of  us  when  the  cold  and  mist  sometimes  came  suddenly, 
and  we  others  but  crouched  and  huddled  in  our  nests 
for  warmth.  Ever  alert  and  alive,  when  it  was  cold,  she 
still  sought  nuts  and  the  dropping  fruits  and  other  things 
we  ate,  and  brought  them  to  her  home  nest.  It  was 
well  for  her  father  and  mother,  who  were  so  very  old. 
They  were  dead,  even  now,  but  I  did  not  know  that,  nor 
did  It. 

So  I  wanted  It  for  my  mate,  and  it  was  not  because  she 
was  so  swift  and  wise  and  could  gather  so  well  the  nuts 
and  fruits  and  the  shell  things  which  clung  to  the  rocks 
beside  the  river  and  which,  when  we  had  cracked  the  shells 
with  stones,  were  good  to  eat.  I  did  not  consider  that. 
I  wanted  her,  I  think,  as  I  have  said,  because  her  eyes 
were  like  the  spring  by  the  rock,  but  that  must  have  been 
a  foolish  reason.  I  had  wantedjiier  much,  and  now,  as 
she  stood  there,  I  wanted  her  more  than  ever,  sick  and 
crippled  as  I  was. 

She  looked  at  me  but  made  no  sound,  though  I  mumbled 


THE  LINK  13 

and  called  and  beckoned  to  her  and  reached  out  for  her 
to  come.  She  was  still  for  a  while,  but  at  last  there  came 
that  look  into  her  eyes  like  the  ripples  I  have  told  about, 
and  then  I  knew  that  she  would  be  my  mate.  She  came 
out  slowly  along  the  limb  and  sat  on  the  edge  of  the  nest 
and  reached  out  and  stroked  my  thumb  very  gently.  She 
lifted  the  hand  and  looked  at  it  and  then  licked  it  and 
looked  up  at  me  and  made  a  clucking,  sighing  sound.  We 
could  not  talk,  we  apes,  then,  but  we  could  make  many 
different  sounds  that  we  understood,  and  I  knew  that  she 
was  trying  to  tell  me  that  she  pitied  me.  I  tried  to  tell 
her,  too,  that  I  was  glad,  and  she  understood  me  surely. 
I  put  out  my  well  arm  and  drew  her  into  the  nest  with  me 
and  held  her  close,  and  she  cuddled  there  contentedly. 
We  were  mates  now,  and  I  was  very  proud  and  nearly 
well  again.  So  she  stayed  beside  me  for  quite  a  time,  I 
stroking  her  smooth  back,  and  then  she  looked  up  and 
laughed,  in  our  way,  and  chattered  and  then  suddenly 
broke  from  me  and  ran  to  the  tree  trunk,  and  the  sounds 
she  made  meant  food.  She  was  down  in  an  instant  and 
slipped  into  the  forest,  but  she  was  not  gone  long.  When 
she  came  back  she  had  a  branch  which  she  carried  between 
her  teeth  as  she  climbed,  and  on  it  was  much  fruit,  which 
I  ate,  for  again  I  was  weak  and  hungry.  And  again  and 
again  she  went  and  brought  me  many  things  to  eat,  more 
fruit  and  soft  round  roots,  and,  at  last,  by  great  fortune, 
a  large  bird  she  had  caught  upon  its  nest.  It  was  what  I 
needed.  My  strength  came  back.  Then,  we  cuddled 
down  together.  Those  were  great  days  while  I  was  grow 
ing  well,  with  It  beside  me.  She  cared  for  me  faithfully 
and  soon  I  could  clamber  down  the  tree,  though  not  yet 


14  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

swiftly.     I  have  the  memory  of  those  fair  days  yet.    But 
they  were  few. 

There  came,  one  afternoon,  wild  howling  from  the  for 
est,  not  more  than  four  or  five  trees  away,  and  I  could  see 
the  Brown  One  coming  toward  us.  He  had  found  the 
refuge  of  It  and  was  coming  for  her!  I  must  fight  him 
now,  weak  as  I  was.  I  rose  in  front  of  It  and  grasped  the 
upright  limb  and  was  ready,  but  it  did  not  count.  My 
mate  slipped  by  me  and  ran  to  the  trunk  and  was  on  the 
ground  and  running  for  the  forest  on  the  other  side  of  the 
glade  and  in  the  treetops  there  almost  before  I  knew  that 
she  was  gone.  She  knew  that  I  was  not  yet  fit  to  fight  the 
Brown  One.  She  called  from  far  aloft  and  I  knew  that 
she  would  come  back  to  me  when  she  could.  As  for  the 
Brown  One,  he  did  not  stop  to  climb  my  tree,  and  try  to 
kill  me,  though  I  gibbered  and  roared  at  him  challengingly. 
He  swung  through  the  tops  circling  the  glade  and  I  could 
hear  his  threatening  cries  as  they  died  distantly  away  in 
the  forest  beyond.  He  was  in  chase  of  my  It  again. 
Somehow,  I  did  not  fear  for  her.  As  well  pursue  the  silly 
shadows  which  fly  across  the  treetops  when  the  white 
things  up  in  the  sky  came  floating  across  the  fire  ball  there. 
One  so  light  and  slender  and  sure-handed  could  pass  along 
the  slender  outreaching  branches  where  none  heavier  could 
follow.  But  I  gnashed  my  teeth,  for  I  wanted  to  follow 
the  Brown  One  and  try  to  kill  him. 

I  slept  at  last,  and  when  I  awoke  I  was  like  another 
creature.  I  was  almost  well.  I  scarcely  ached,  and  my 
fingers  were  all  strong.  The  thumb  lay  stiffly  and  pressed 
crookedly  down  upon  my  palm,  as  it  had  been  broken, 
but  the  thing  was  hardening  and  knitting.  Well  was  it 


THE  LINK  15 

for  me  that  we  apes  recovered  quickly  from  our  wounds. 
When  hurt,  we  either  died  or  were  soon  ourselves  again. 

I  had  none  to  help  me  now,  and  it  may  be  it  was  good 
for  me.  I  clambered  down  from  the  tree  and  wandered 
forth  and  found  a  little  food  and  came  back  and  waited 
for  the  return  of  It,  but  she  did  not  come.  I  waited  and 
it  seemed  to  me  that  in  my  craze  I  was  some  other 
creature.  I  climbed  down  and  ran  about  in  the  forest 
senselessly.  Then,  at  night  I  came  back  again  to  the 
nest  and  slept.  I  seemed  to  know  more  in  the  morning. 
I  had  my  senses.  I  went  down  beside  the  river  and  ate 
many  of  the  shell  things  and  I  ate  fruit  I  found.  I  would 
find  It  now.  I  searched  the  forest;  I  even  went  to  the 
nest  of  the  Old  One,  but  it  was  vacant  and  the  gnawed 
bones  of  the  Old  One  and  his  mate  lay  on  the  ground  be 
side  his  tree.  I  could  find  It  nowhere.  I  did  not  believe 
that  the  Brown  One  could  seize  her  in  the  treetops,  but 
he  might  have  chased  her  far  away.  I  did  not  know  what 
to  do.  So  the  days  passed.  Meanwhile,  I  became  all 
my  mighty  self.  My  injured  thumb  was  strong  though 
crooked  forward  against  my  hand.  Then,  one  day,  a 
strange  thing  happened : 

I  had  wandered  far  along  the  river  bank  and  was  sitting 
foolishly  upon  a  rock  and  playing  with  a  piece  of  wood 
which  had  floated  down  and  stranded.  It  was  a  stout 
thing,  larger  at  one  end  than  the  other,  and  very  heavy. 
The  crook  of  my  broken  thumb,  as  it  lay  pressed  against 
the  palm,  left  a  space  beneath,  and  through  this  space 
I  idly  thrust  the  small  end  of  the  wood.  Thus  my  fingers 
were  above  on  one  side  of  the  club  and  my  thumb  upon 
the  other,  bearing  hardly  when  I  chose,  for  I  could  press 


16  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

the  thumb  down  strongly,-  though  I  could  scarcely  raise 
the  end.  It  was  a  new  sensation  which  came  to  interest 
me  suddenly.  I  could  clasp  the  stick  with  my  fingers 
clutching  the  other  side  and  I  could  do  things  with  it- 
I  whirled  the  club  about  my  head  and  smote  the  bushes 
and  broke  them  easily.  It  was  wonderful !  Never  before 
had  fingers  and  thumb  of  ape  accomplished  a  grip  to 
gether!  The  club  was  hard  and  heavy,  yet  in  my  strong 
grasp  it  was  but  a  plaything.  It  delighted  me.  I  would 
take  it  with  me.  That  was  well. 

I  started  toward  my  glade,  for  night  was  coming  and 
I  had  eaten  enough.  I  took  a  path  which  ran  through 
hollows  and  beside  a  long  rocky  upheaval  in  which  were 
many  abruptly  ending  defiles  where,  sometimes,  I  had 
caught  small  animals  which  could  not  climb  the  smooth, 
steep  sides.  I  heard  a  rustling  in  one  of  these  and  thought 
that  I  had  some  prize  assured.  The  entrance  was  but  a 
few  feet  wide  and  the  passage,  as  I  knew,  ended  in  a  sheer 
height.  I  followed  the  defile  to  the  end,  but  could  find 
no  living  thing.  The  sound  which  had  attracted  me  may 
have  been  made  by  some  large  bird  which  had  flown  be 
fore  I  entered.  I  turned  toward  the  entrance  again,  but 
stopped  with  fear  in  my  heart,  from  what  I  saw.  I  knew 
that  death  was  close  to  me.  I  yelled  aloud  at  first  in  my 
terror  and  then  became  suddenly  quiet.  That  was  the 
way  with  most  of  us  big  males  of  the  apes  in  great  emer 
gencies.  We  became,  when  fatally  at  bay,  sullen,  des 
perate  things.  I  would  die  fighting.  The  hair  upon  me 
bristled. 

It  was  the  great  wolf.  A  gaunt  and  fearful  creature 
was  the  wolf  of  the  time,  one  we  tree  people  fled  from  when 


THE  LINK  17 

we  met  him  in  the  forest;  and  when  he  and  others  of  his 
kind  gathered  sometimes  and  ran  in  packs,  even  the  urus 
or  the  mighty  aurochs  ran  fast  and  far,  for  few  animals, 
even  among  the  greatest,  could  face  the  onslaught  of  the 
pack.  As  for  one  of  us  apes,  when  he  met  a  wolf  singly, 
grapple  as  he  might  and  tear  with  his  shorter  teeth,  the 
wolf's  jaws  ever,  somehow,  found  the  neck,  and  that  was 
the  end.  For  me  there  was  no  escape.  The  great  wolf 
rushed  upon  me  and  leaped  high  at  my  throat. 

I  know  not  why  nor  how  I  did  it.  In  the  past  I  would 
have  tried  but  blindly  to  seize  upon  the  grisly  brute,  and 
so  die  grappling  and  seeking  to  bite,  but  some  new  and 
sudden  impulse,  some  fierce,  unconscious  repetition  of 
what  I  had  just  been  doing  in  mere  wantonness,  impelled 
my  tautened  nerves  and  muscles  and,  even  as  he  sprang, 
I  swung  the  club  with  all  my  recovered  strength,  and, 
there  in  mid-air,  it  crashed  down  upon  the  fearsome  head. 
It  crashed  as  do  the  trees  when  the  winds  break  them, 
and  the  big  body  dropped  as  it  came  hurtling  against  me 
and  felling  me  —  but  the  jaws  seized  not.  I  leaped  to  my 
feet  for  flight,  but  the  monster  only  lay  there  heaving. 
Then  I  went  mad,  mad  as  the  sick  jackal.  I  swung  the 
club  again  and  again  and  brought  it  down  upon  the  evil 
head  until  the  skull  was  crushed  to  pulp.  I  was  my  old 
self  no  more.  I  ran  out  from  the  gorge  and  leaped  up 
and  down  and  howled  across  the  waste  and  the  river  and 
toward  all  the  forest  in  wild  triumph.  I  was  the  king  of 
the  apes!  I  could  kill  as  never  ape  had  killed  before! 
There  were  fewer  things  to  fear  in  all  the  world.  I  had 
learned  to  use  the  club!  It  was  wonderful.  I  howled 
daringly  all  the  way  homeward  to  my  nest,  and  smote 


18  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

many  things  with  my  great  weapon  as  I  passed.  I  climbed 
the  tree  carrying  it  in  my  teeth,  and  could  scarcely  sleep 
for  exultation.  I  was  a  new  creature.  I  had  found  that 
which  made  me  so. 

I  came  down  in  the  morning,  bearing  my  club  with  me. 
Ever  after  that  I  carried  it,  and  I  may  tell  now,  that  as 
time  passed,  since  I  could  not  hold  it  constantly  in  my 
mouth,  this  club-carrying  made  me  walk  more  and  more 
on  my  hind  legs  until  it  became,  unconsciously,  a  habit 
with  me.  Now  I  went  more  recklessly  about  my  food- 
seeking.  I  met  a  herd  of  the  wild  hogs,  a  big  sow  with 
pigs,  and  ran  among  them  and  slew  a  pig  with  my  club 
and  then  leaped  into  a  tree,  for  the  charging  mother  was 
too  fearsome  for  me,  even  with  my  weapon.  Then  she 
and  her  living  litter  went  away  and  I  came  down  and  ate 
my  breakfast  from  the  pig.  It  was  good.  So,  for  days,  I 
ranged  through  the  wood  and  by  the  river,  but  all  was 
not  yet  well.  Something  sank  within  me.  Now  I  know 
what  it  was.  I  wanted  It. 

Still,  I  was  jubilant  over  my  club.  I  was  vain  and 
drunken  with  the  power  I  had.  Another  ape  rose  in  the 
path  ahead  of  me,  an  ape  as  big  as  I  was,  and  I  roared  and 
ran  at  him,  I  know  not  why.  I  was  not  angry  and  did 
not  want  to  hurt  him,  but  I  wanted  to  smite  something 
alive.  It  had  been  good  to  hit  the  wolf.  The  ape  stood 
his  ground  until  I  was  almost  upon  him,  then,  amazed 
and  alarmed  by  the  whirling  of  the  club,  he  leaped  for  a 
tree  trunk  and  I  struck  him  furiously  on  the  haunches  as 
he  scrambled  upward.  He  fled  shrieking  through  the 
treetops. 

But  there  came,  stronger  than  ever,  the  hunger  for  It, 


THE  LINK  19 

and  I  ranged  through  the  forest  for  many  days  and  into 
places  strange  to  me.  Food  I  discovered  in  abundance. 
So  I  wandered  restlessly  until  I  passed,  one  afternoon, 
across  a  wide,  bare  space,  almost  a  plain,  where  there 
stood  a  grove  of  trees,  up  one  of  which  I  climbed,  and 
slept  there  in  its  great  crotch. 

In  the  morning  something  made  me  turn  again  toward 
my  own  region.  I  was  nearing  there  when  I  heard  a 
distant  cry,  and  I  knew  in  a  moment  what  it  meant.  My 
It  had  returned  to  seek  me  and  was  again  in  peril.  I 
bounded  forward  and  saw  it  all.  In  a  great  tree  top  was 
my  It,  and  beneath  her  was  the  Brown  One.  I  did  not 
know  it  then,  but  he  had  killed  her  old  father  and  mother, 
even  before  he  found  her  with  me,  and  when  she  fled  from 
our  nest  he  had  chased  her  far  away,  but  vainly.  After 
days  of  flight  and  hiding  she  had  eluded  him  and  had 
come  back  seeking  me,  and  he  had  come  back  as  well, 
thinking,  in  his  dim  way,  thus  to  find  her.  He  had  found 
her,  indeed,  but  he  was  about  to  find,  too,  what  was  not 
well  for  him. 

She  was  above  him,  where  the  branches  were  weak  and 
where  he  could  not  clamber  to  her  easily,  but  she  was 
shrieking  loudly,  as  well  she  might.  I  made  no  sound  at 
first.  I  ran  to  the  tree  and  climbed,  with  my  club  be 
tween  my  teeth,  until  I  reached  a  limb  on  which  was 
fighting  room,  and  then  I  roared  aloud.  The  screaming 
of  It  changed  in  an  instant  to  shrieks  of  joy.  The  Brown 
One  glared  downward  and  saw  me  and  scrambled  down 
ward  with  a  snarling  roar,  to  the  limb  upon  which  I  stood. 
He  ran  close,  and  we  stood  as  we  had  in  the  other  fight, 
scarce  a  yard  apart,  each  sustained  by  the  grip  of  our  long 


20  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

toes  and  with  one  hand  clutching  an  upright  branch, 
leaving  the  other  free.  In  his  free  hand  was  nothing; 
in  mine  was  the  club.  He  thrust  forward  to  clutch  and 
pull  me  to  him. 

It  was  his  end!  I  swung  my  club  aloft  as  he  lurched 
toward  me  savagely,  and  smote  down  fairly  upon  his  head 
with  all  my  maddened  strength.  Like  clay,  his  brute 
skull  caved  in,  for  the  blow  was  devilish.  He  did  not 
even  scream.  His  fingers  and  toes  clung  to  the  limbs  for 
an  instant,  and  then  he  dropped  silently  far  to  the  ground. 
He  drew  his  arms  and  legs  together  quiveringly  once  or 
twice  and  then  lay  still.  He  was  dead! 

I  danced  upon  the  limb  and  roared  and  yelped  and 
mocked.  The  Brown  One  was  dead!  In  all  the  world 
there  was  none  other  so  great  and  wise  as  I.  What  other 
knew  the  club? 

My  mate  came  to  me  wonderingly  and  chattering,  and 
we  caressed  each  other.  We  went  down  the  tree  and  I 
beat  the  head  of  the  Brown  One  as  I  had  that  of  the  wolf, 
but  there  was  no  need.  Already  the  little  insects  were 
running  over  him.  He  was  dead.  In  the  night  something 
would  come  and  eat  him. 

We  sought  our  own  tree  and  our  nest  and  were  un 
afraid.  We  brought  more  leaves  and  soft  grasses  and 
mosses  and  coiled  our  arms  about  each  other  when  the 
darkness  came  each  night  and  were  warm  and  happy. 
We  were  mates,  and  sometimes  we  would  snuggle  our 
heads  together  and  make  a  soft  sound  like  "Wee-chew, 
wee-chew,  wee-chew."  There  is  a  bird  which  makes  a 
mating  sound  like  that  to-day,  only,  of  course,  more 
musically  than  could  we  apes. 


THE  LINK  21 

Sometimes  we  went  far  from  the  tree,  for  always  I  had 
my  club,  and  It  imitated  me  by  walking  on  her  hind  legs 
and,  at  last,  carried  a  little  club  herself,  though  she  could 
not  use  it  very  well  at  first.  We  had  adventures  and  some 
times  scant  escapes,  but  my  club  was  heavy  and  I  was 
strong,  and,  when  too  hard  pressed,  there  were  always 
the  treetops  for  our  refuge.  But  we  did  not  venture  far 
out  on  the  great  plains  where  were  the  grass-eaters  and 
the  fierce  things  which  devoured  them,  nor  did  we  venture 
forth  at  night.  Sometimes,  for  I  feared  none,  we  visited 
the  nests  of  other  apes  and  they  came  to  visit  us.  And, 
because  of  this,  a  great  change  came. 

There  had  been  rare  quarrels  with  other  apes  and  I  had 
smitten  them  sorely  with  my  club  and  they  had  wondered 
at  it  and  feared  it.  They  saw  my  boldness,  too,  and  how 
I  killed  for  food  things  which  I  crept  upon  and  which  I 
could  not  have  killed  with  my  bare  hands,  and  soon  they, 
too,  sought  clubs  and  tried  to  imitate  me,  for  imitation 
is  ever  the  way  of  apes.  They  could  not  do  as  well,  for 
they  had  no  such  grip  as  I  with  my  maimed  thumb,  but, 
even  with  its  use  by  their  finger  grip  alone,  the  thing  be 
came  a  weapon  and  soon  our  kind,  of  whom  there  were 
not  great  numbers  —  there  were  other  apes  of  other  kinds 
whom  we  hated,  because  they  were  so  like  and  yet  so  un 
like  us  —  carried  each  a  club  and  so  began  to  walk  erect 
as  I  did.  And  we  learned  to  band  ourselves  together, 
even  more  wisely  than  the  wolves,  and  we  could  surround 
one  of  the  wild  horses  in  a  gorge  or  beside  a  bluff  and  so 
get  much  meat  at  one  time  for  all  of  us.  We  acquired  new 
sounds  and  cries,  too,  with  our  increasing  need  for  speech, 
and  soon  all  began  to  recognize  them.  There  was  one 


22  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

wild  cry  sent  out  in  emergency  which  meant  "Club! 
Club!  Bring  your  Club!"  and  so  it  was  with  other  calls. 
We  had  no  names  yet,  but  something  like  the  beginning 
of  a  language  was  at  hand,  a  tongue  of  clucks  and  cries 
and  yelps,  but  yet  the  seed  of  language.  All  our  world 
was  becoming  different.  The  other  creatures  began  to 
fear  us.  The  smaller,  once  unafraid,  now  fled  when  we 
appeared,  but  the  great  flesh-eaters  sought  us  more  fiercely 
than  ever,  since  we  were  more  careless  and  conspicu 
ous.  But,  if  we  were  more  daring,  we  had  become  more 
cautious  also,  and  they  seldom  caught  us. 

And  there  came,  before  all  this,  a  time  when  It  stayed 
in  the  nest  and  I  brought  her  food.  And,  one  day,  when 
I  came  back  with  eggs  from  the  nest  of  a  river  duck,  she 
held  in  her  arms  a  tiny  ape  which  was  our  child.  It 
thrived  amazingly,  for  well  cared  for  were  the  child  and 
It,  my  mate.  And  as  a  child,  my  young  one  ran 
about  erect  and  smote  things  with  his  little  stick.  So 
it  was,  in  a  way,  too,  with  the  children  of  other  apes  of 
our  kind.  They  also  learned,  though  more  slowly,  to 
run  about  on  their  hind  feet  and  to  wield  the  little  clubs 
they  carried. 

But  sometimes  all  we  apes  were  in  mortal  terror,  not 
of  the  bears  and  tigers  and  other  dread  things  of  the  wood, 
but  of  that  which  came  suddenly  and  made  even  the 
fierce  beasts  themselves  fly  whining  to  their  dens  and 
hiding-places.  Nothing  could  help  us  in  those  awful 
hours,  for  there  would  be  rumblings  and  growlings  in  the 
earth  beneath  us  and  it  would  lift  itself  up  in  vast,  heav 
ing  waves,  and  would  sometimes  burst  open  in  long  rents, 
and  flames  and  deadly  fumes  would  issue,  and  great 


THE  LINK  23 

reaches  of  the  forest  would  disappear  and  all  within  them 
perish,  and,  when  the  thundering  and  roaring  ceased,  the 
look  of  all  the  world  about  us  would  be  changed.  But 
these  things  would  pass,  though  there  would  be  left  great 
fissures  through  which  came  sheets  of  fire  which  burned 
continuously;  and  when  the  cold  came,  as  it  did  at  times, 
we  could  go  as  near  the  fire  as  we  dared,  and  then  the  cold 
would  seem  to  go  away. 

And  the  days  went  well  for  It  and  me,  and  other  chil 
dren  came  and  were  soon  full  grown,  as  was  the  way,  and 
they  took  mates  and  there  were  many  homes  in  the  tree- 
tops.  We  became  a  strong  people,  my  family  and  its 
kind,  for  we  alone  had  the  club.  We  yet  lived  much  on 
fruits  and  nuts  and  roots  and  eggs  and  the  shell-fish,  but 
we  ate  more  flesh  now,  for,  as  I  have  said,  we  had  learned 
to  hunt  together  and  that  brought  an  abundance. 

But  there  was  ever  the  thing  we  should  have  dreaded 
more.  Away  to  the  north  high  mountains  upreared 
themselves  toward  the  sky,  and  through  a  mighty  gorge 
in  these  the  river  came.  Beyond  the  mountains  was  a 
vast  lake.  Sometimes  the  mountain  crests  would  redden 
and  they  would  vomit  up  fire  when  the  upheavals  we  so 
feared  came  and  the  ground  lifted  up  and  split  and  the 
forests  fell.  Then,  afterward,  would  come  great  storms 
and  the  river  would  be  wider  and  deeper  and  darker  and 
rush  down  fiercely,  bearing  tree  trunks  and  the  floating 
carcasses  of  wild  things.  But  still  we  thought  little  of 
all  this.  We  lived  for  each  day,  as  it  came,  unknowingly. 

It  was  late  one  afternoon  in  the  hot  time  when  the 
leaves  were  heaviest  and  I  was  in  the  nest  with  It,  for 
there  was  still  another  child,  and  we  had  done  much 


24  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

climbing  throughout  the  day  and  were  curled  down  and 
resting,  half  asleep.  Something  at  last  aroused  me  and 
I  looked  about.  The  air  was  heavy,  but  soon  there  began 
a  rustling  of  the  leaves  and  then  a  shaking,  but  it  seemed 
to  come  from  far  away  and  only  the  tremor  of  it  to 
reach  us. 

Then,  all  at  once,  the  sky  darkened  and  the  earth 
heaved.  It  sprang  up  screaming,  with  the  child  held  to 
her,  and  we  both  clung  desperately  to  the  limbs  beside 
us,  as  the  trees  threshed  back  and  forth.  Then  came  the 
fearful,  thundering,  blasting  sound  we  knew  so  well,  and 
flames  burst  from  the  distant  mountains  as  they  seemed 
themselves  to  lift  and  sway  in  air.  Then  followed  a  roar 
as  of  all  the  sounds  of  earth  together,  and  I  saw  the  great 
walls  torn  apart  and  rise  and  fall  again,  by  the  light  of  the 
awful  flames  in  the  darkness  far  away.  The  earthquake 
ceased,  but  not  the  dreadful  roar,  stunning  and  deafening 
from  afar,  but  coming  nearer  and  nearer  with  each  in 
stant.  Something  enormous,  black,  with  a  great  white 
foaming  crest,  uprose  and  lifted  higher  than  all  the  forest. 
The  mountain  had  parted  and  the  great  lake  was  so  hurled 
down  upon  us!  It  came,  itself  a  mountain.  I  saw  It, 
for  a  moment,  with  the  child  held  in  one  arm,  then  some 
thing  struck  her  and  she  fell.  I  could  see  the  crest  of  the 
coming  mountain  towering  far  above  me,  then  I  was 
swept  from  the  limb  and,  stunned,  ^gasping,  strangling, 
was  carried  away  in  the  black  waters. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  AXEMEN 

I  AWOKE  lying  on  a  stretch  of  turf  in  an  angle  of  the 
rocks  by  the  river.  It  was  almost  midday  and  it 
seemed  to  me  that  I  must  have  been  aroused  by  the 
sunshine  on  my  face.  I  rose  to  my  feet  and  stretched  my 
self  dazedly,  for  my  head  hurt  me.  I  reached  for  the  club 
which  lay  near  me,  and  examined  it  curiously.  It  was 
not  my  club  at  all,  and,  when  I  looked  about,  the  rocks 
and  earth  and  trees  appeared  as  unfamiliar  as  the  weapon. 
I  swung  the  club  joyously,  for  it  was  a  better  one  than  I 
had  ever  seen,  strong,  well  balanced,  and  heavy  at  the 
end.  I  tried  to  think,  but  only  mists  would  come  to  me. 
Had  I  ever  another  club?  Then  I  perceived  that  there 
was  something  tied  around  my  waist,  a  broad  belt  of 
hyena  skin,  doubled  up  on  one  side  into  a  sort  of  pocket 
held  together  by  knotted  sinews.  In  this  pocket  was  a 
thin  flake  of  flint  nearly  as  broad  as  my  hand  and  with 
sharp  edges.  How  came  I  to  have  such  a  thing?  And 
then  I  noticed,  suddenly,  and  wondered  how  it  was,  that 
the  hair  all  over  me  was  thin  and  scant.  I  was  frightened, 
I  could  not  understand  it. 

I  strode  out  from  my  place  in  the  rocks  and  looked  across 
the  river.  Its  banks  were  new  to  me.  I  turned  toward 
the  north  and  there  were  mountains,  though  unlike  those 
of  old,  and  when  I  passed  around  the  ledge,  even  the  for- 

25 


26  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

est  trees  and  the  rocky  passes  appeared  changed.  Had  I 
ever  seen  other  rocks  or  forests?  Then  I  heard  a  shout. 
I  turned  and  saw  two  great  apes  —  at  least  I  thought  them 
such  —  each  beckoning  to  me  and  calling.  The  cries 
were  followed  by  loud  clucks  and  gurglings,  a  kind  of  talk. 
And  I  understood  it.  How  could  I  do  that? 

I  went  toward  them  slowly,  alert  and  with  my  club 
grasped  in  all  readiness,  but  I  was  not  much  alarmed. 
I  felt,  but  dimly,  that  the  two  great  creatures  were  my 
friends.  Each  bore  a  club  like  mine,  but  neither  lifted 
it  as  I  advanced.  They  but  pointed  up  the  river  and 
jabbered  noisily. 

What  creatures  they  were !  Almost  straight  they  stood, 
with  no  more  hair  upon  their  bodies  than  had  I,  and 
their  thumbs  closed  readily  and  easily  upon  the  fingers, 
making  the  grip  of  their  club  secure.  But  it  was  their 
faces  and  the  expression  upon  them  which  most  astonished 
me.  They  were  quite  unlike  the  dream  of  apes,  still, 
somehow,  with  me.  They  had  noses  more  distinct,  their 
ears  were  rounded,  there  was  less  repellent  expanse  of 
jaw  and  upper  lip  between  the  mouth  and  nostrils,  and 
the  teeth,  which  showed  as  they  chattered,  were  not  so 
long  and  sharp.  Their  eyes,  though,  were  their  striking 
feature,  since  in  them  appeared  a  look  of  understanding 
which  I  recognized.  They  were  of  my  kind. 

I  made  no  answer  to  them  and,  as  I  came  near,  they 
looked  upon  me  pityingly,  putting  their  hands  to  their 
heads  and  pointing  toward  the  place  where  I  had  awak 
ened.  Then,  for  the  first  time,  I  began  to  realize  things. 
They  were  saying  that  I  had  been  hurt.  Instinctively  I 
lifted  my  own  hand  and  there  came  away  a  little  blood. 


THE  AXEMEN  27 

Who  had  struck  me?  I  swung  my  club  furiously,  but 
they  only  chattered  the  more  and  made  motions,  one  of 
them  running  to  the  ledge  and  pointing  upward  to  its 
top  and  making  a  sound  which  I  knew.  I  had  been  with 
them  on  some  sort  of  an  expedition  and  a  stone  had  rolled 
down  and  hurt  me  as  I  slept.  That  was  why  my  head 
ached  and  why  I  could,  at  first,  remember  nothing.  I 
was  no  longer  angry.  I  listened  eagerly  to  what  they  were 
trying  to  tell  me. 

One  of  the  two,  as  they  pointed  up  the  river,  made  a 
repeated  bleating,  as  of  an  animal  in  distress,  and  when 
he  said  "Stag,"  "Stag,"  I  knew  that  there  was  good  hunt 
ing  close  at  hand.  I  shouted  and  waved  my  club,  and 
we  dashed  away  together. 

The  pathway  near  the  river  led  but  a  short  way  before 
it  opened  out  upon  a  little  low-lying  grassy  plain  extend 
ing  to  the  bank,  with  marshy  places  here  and  there,  and 
upon  this  natural  meadow  half  a  score  or  more  great, 
splendid  antlered  things  were  feeding.  They  grouped 
near  together,  with  the  exception  of  a  single  cow,  walk 
ing  round  and  round  one  of  the  marshy  pools  and  bleating 
piteously  at  intervals.  We  shouted  when  we  saw  her. 
We  knew  that  her  fawn  was  mired  and  helpless  and  we 
should  kill  it  and  have  food. 

We  entered  the  tall  reeds  and  grass  of  the  lowland  and 
stooped  low,  slipping  through  noiselessly  until  we  were 
near  the  distressed  mother.  Then  we  uprose  and  rushed 
and  yelled  together.  The  startled  elk  leaped  and  ran 
swiftly  for  a  distance,  then,  as  there  came  the  sound  of 
struggle  and  plaintive  bleating  from  the  quagmire,  she 
checked  herself  and  turned  to  charge.  There  came 


28  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

an  awful  interjection.  There  rose  from  the  forest  edge, 
though  far  away  up  the  river,  a  roar  so  fearful  and  appall 
ing,  so  dreadful  and  far-reaching,  that  all  the  world  seemed 
dazed  from  the  moment  the  sound  tore  across  the  valley 
and,  even  before  these  echoes  died  away,  the  herd  of  feed 
ing  elk  leaped  forward  together  in  frantic  bounds  and 
swept  close  beside  us  in  their  flight,  carrying  with  them 
the  mother  cow.  The  great  cave  tiger  was  abroad,  though 
not  yet  near,  and  before  him  all  living  things  must  flee. 
We  were  shaking  ourselves,  with  fright,  but  we  knew  the 
monster  had  doubtless  just  now  slain  because  of  the  cruel 
roar  which  told  it,  and  so  we  were  in  no  danger  for  the 
moment.  The  elk  calf,  a  great  thing  nearly  a  third  grown, 
was  standing  helpless  near  the  quagmire  edge.  We  ven 
tured  in  a  little  way  and  crushed  the  thin  bones  of  its 
head  with  our  hard  clubs  and,  together,  dragged  it  to  the 
firm  earth  and  so,  hurriedly,  across  the  valley  and  up 
among  the  rocks.  With  one  on  watch,  we  attacked  the 
body  of  the  calf  with  our  sharp  flakes  of  flint,  and  with 
much  toil  and  many  strokes  made  openings  in  the  skin 
and  hacked  and  hewed  and  wrenched  until  we  had  the 
beast  divided  into  three  parts.  Then,  each  with  his  bur 
den  of  skin  and  flesh  upon  his  back  and  his  club  thrust 
in  his  belt,  we  went  straining  hurriedly  across  the  lowland 
and  up  the  path  among  the  rocks  whence  we  had  come 
until  we  were  another  long  distance  away,  where,  climb 
ing  upon  a  huge  boulder,  we  ate  ravenously.  It  was  a 
feast.  Very  good  to  eat  is  the  flesh  of  young  stag. 

Rested  and  full  of  strength,  we  took  up  our  march  again 
until  we  turned  into  the  opening  of  a  long  gorge,  almost  a 
valley,  which  lay  not  far  from  the  river  and  nearly  par- 


THE  AXEMEN  M 

allel  with  it.  I  knew  that  in  this  gorge  our  homes  were, 
but  I  could  not  yet  remember  much  about  them,  though 
each  new  scene,  as  we  advanced,  became  familiar.  I  rec 
ognized  the  place  where  I  had  once  killed  a  hare  with  a 
well-hurled  stone. 

Suddenly  one  of  my  companions  gave  utterance  to  a 
long  drawn  cry,  "O-o-e-e,  O-o-e-e,"  far  reaching  and  sus 
tained,  until  there  came  an  answer  from  farther  up  the 
valley,  "O-o-e-e,  O-o-e-e!"  Then,  in  the  distance,  seem 
ing  to  issue  from  the  solid  rock,  came  three  figures,  and 
I  knew  they  were  our  people. 

In  the  lead  were  two  women  and  behind  them  was  a 
child,  a  little  girl.  The  woman  first  to  reach  us  was  of 
middle  age,  and,  chattering  joyously,  she  took  the  load 
from  the  older  of  my  companions  and  trudged  along  be 
side  him,  as  did  the  younger  woman  with  the  other  man, 
and  I  knew  that  the  women  were  their  mates.  All  to 
gether,  we  went  on  to  the  place  whence  the  woman  and 
child  had  issued,  and  there  was  the  entrance  to  a  cave, 
not  very  large,  but  which  rose  and  widened  out  inside 
into  what  was  a  vast  chamber,  fifty  feet  across,  at  least, 
and  nearly  as  many  high.  Away  off  in  one  corner  of  the 
floor  there  gleamed  a  tiny  light  which  indicated  a  smoul 
dering  fire,  and  about  it,  tending  it,  an  old  man  tottered. 
There  were  heaps  of  leaves  and  grass,  too,  and  upon  the 
floor  were  a  few  skins  of  animals  and  many  bones  and 
roots  and  the  shells  of  nuts,  all  scattered  heedlessly  about. 
The  women  chattered  continuously,  for  they  were  de 
lighted  with  the  meat.  Each  was  eating  torn  strips,  raw, 
but  soon  one  ran  out  and  brought  in  an  armful  of 
meat,  which  was  stuck  firmly  upon  long  sharpened  sticks, 


SO  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

and  thrust  into  the  fed  flame  until  it  was  burned  and 
blackened  and  then  eaten  with  greater  gusto.  The  child 
devoured  her  share  like  a  young  hyena,  while  the  elders 
sucked  and  mumbled.  The  women  seemed  to  know  me 
and  be  glad  that  I  had  come.  One  of  them  pointed, 
laughing,  to  the  burden  I  had  carried,  and  then  up  toward 
the  valley,  and  I  knew  that  my  own  cave  was  there. 
Soon,  refreshed,  I  took  up  my  own  burden  of  the  meat 
and  left  my  friends  and  followed  the  path  southward, 
knowing  instinctively  each  rise  and  run.  I  reached  a 
place  where  the  rock  sloped  sharply  down  and  where,  half 
way  up,  appeared  the  dark  mouth  of  a  narrow  opening. 
I  had  reached  my  home  at  last. 

Up  the  steep  ascent  of  thirty  feet  or  more  was  a  twist 
ing  way,  worn  smooth.  Long  travelled  must  have  been 
that  path.  I  entered  the  cave  and  found  it  very  like 
the  other,  save  that  it  was  not  more  than  a  fourth  as 
large.  The  one  I  had  just  left  was  the  largest  in  all  the 
region. 

There  were  embers  still  alive  where  was  a  spot  of  red 
at  one  end  of  the  cave,  and  I  cast  down  my  load  and  threw 
on  fresh  wood,  which  was  at  hand,  and  then  lay  down  to 
sleep,  for  I  was  tired.  But  I  could  not  sleep.  There 
were  flames  and  light  in  the  cave  and,  now,  everything 
came  back  to  me.  I  remembered  the  two  days  before 
I  went  away  with  my  companions.  I  remembered  the 
pleasures  and  perils  of  my  life,  and  all  the  horrors  of  the 
discovery,  not  long  ago,  when  I,  returning  from  a  night 
spent  with  a  hunter  in  another  cave,  found  all  of  those 
I  had  lived  with  dead  and  nearly  all  devoured,  all  slain  in 
the  cave  together,  surprised  while  sleeping,  by  the  wolf 


THE  AXEMEN  31 

pack  which  had  found  swift  entrance  through  the  opening, 
for  once  left  carelessly  unblocked  by  slabs  of  stone. 

Then,  all  at  once,  with  my  clearing  mind  came  to  me 
the  thought  that  I  was  not  a  solitary  creature  inhabiting 
that  cave.  I  ran  to  its  mouth  and  my  "O-o-e-e"  went 
forth  resoundingly. 

Again  and  again  I  called,  and  at  last  there  was  an  an 
swer,  nearer  and  nearer  with  each  reply,  and  a  man  came 
running  easily.  I  was  glad.  It  was  Woof,  my  hunting 
mate,  who  lived  with  me  in  the  cave.  A  great  compan 
ion  was  Woof.  He  had  left  his  own  people  to  come  and 
live  with  me,  for  we  had  known  each  other  a  long  time. 
He  was  almost  as  tall  and  strong  as  I  and  could  run  al 
most  as  swiftly  as  the  little  deer.  He  loped  up  the  path 
way  to  our  home,  saw  the  meat,  and  shouted  aloud  in 
satisfaction  and  began  to  roast  and  eat.  He  had  not  been 
over-fortunate  in  his  hunting  in  my  absence. 

We  talked  long  in  our  clucking  way  until  the  day  was 
late.  Then  we  heaped  up  the  stone  slabs  until  the  en 
trance  to  the  cave  was  filled  nearly  to  the  top  and  threw 
ourselves  down  to  sleep.  As  my  eyes  grew  heavy  I 
dreamed  again  perplexedly.  Again  I  was  in  the  tree  tops, 
swinging  easily  along  and  hearing  familiar  cries.  And 
there  were  flames  and  roaring  and  tottering  forests.  I 
would  waken  at  times  and  look  upon  the  smouldering 
fire  and  toward  where  Woof  lay  breathing  deeply,  and 
realize  the  present,  and  then  a  fog  would  arise  and  Woof 
and  the  cave  side  would  disappear.  Had  there  been 
something  before?  I  could  see,  at  times,  a  face,  but  to 
whom  it  belonged  I  could  not  tell.  I  knew  it  now;  it  was 
ft  face  of  another  time,  the  merry,  impish  face  of  an  ape- 


32  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

like  creature  with  whom  I  had  had  comradeship.  I 
awakened  and  groped  hungrily  in  my  mind,  but  could  re 
member  nothing.  At  last  I  slept  contentedly. 

With  the  flood  of  the  fair  morning  light  came  still 
greater  clearness  to  my  thoughts.  I  forgot  for  a  time 
even  that  I  had  dreamed  and  was,  like  Woof,  eager  for 
the  outside.  It  was  a  good  thing  that  there  was  yet  meat 
enough  to  finish  in  a  great  breakfast.  As  things  went  we 
were  well-to-do  young  men.  Club  in  hand,  we  tumbled 
down  the  pathway  and  swung  up  the  long  ravine. 

We  finally  clambered  to  the  summit  of  towering  rocks 
and  looked  up  and  down  seekingly;  it  was  a  way  we  had, 
and  with  reason,  in  those  death-laden  times,  never  to 
travel  far  without  ascending  a  tree  or  some  eminence  and 
searching  the  entire  country  in  sight.  Now  we  saw  noth 
ing  moving  save  two  black  spots  in  the  direction  whence 
we  came.  We  knew  what  they  meant,  and  the  long- 
drawn  call  for  them  went  forth,  "O-o-e-e,  O-o-e-e!"  The 
two  men,  running,  were  Gurr  and  Hair,  my  companions 
of  the  day  before,  who  were  soon  beside  us  there  on  the 
rock  pile. 

Strictly  speaking,  we  had  yet  no  proper  names,  though 
we  had  the  result  of  an  effort  toward  them.  We  could 
indicate  an  absent  one,  but  in  most  cases  only  by  a  sort 
of  mimicry.  Thus  Woof  was  so  known  because  of  a 
trick  of  his  in  imitating  well  the  "woof"  of  a  startled 
beast.  Gurr  was  so  designated  because  of  his  husky 
voice,  and  his  wife  was  Goor  because  her  call  was  similar 
to  his  though  not  so  harsh.  There  was  another  man  with 
a  split  lip  and  singular  utterance,  and  we  said  "Chu-Chu" 
when  we  referred  to  him.  Hair  was  so  called  because  he 


THE  AXEMEN  33 

was  the  most  hairy  one  among  us.  We  must  have  known 
more  than  a  hundred  different  sounds  for  different  things. 
Names,  or  sounds,  we  had  for  fire,  water,  food,  the  sun 
and  moon  and  trees  and  rocks  and  clubs,  and  for  most  of 
the  great  beasts. 

And  certain  other  words  we  had,  too,  that  had  to  do 
with  actions,  such  as  fighting  and  the  hunt.  We  had  in 
deed  the  inception  of  a  language  which  lifted  us  above  and 
beyond  all  other  creatures.  Of  some  personal  names, 
mostly  imitative,  there  were  Gluck-Gluck,  Blink,  and 
Limp,  and  there  was  one  big  cave  man  Ugh,  who  grunted 
savagely  at  times,  and  who  was  very  strong.  His  jaws 
were  heavy,  his  mouth  was  armed  with  great  teeth,  and 
his  thumbs  and  great  toes  were  very  long.  He  could 
climb  better  than  most  of  us,  but  was  dull-witted  and  not 
any  more  successful  than  others  in  the  hunt.  Once  he 
built  a  great  nest  in  a  treetop,  but  abandoned  it  and  re 
turned  to  his  hollow  in  the  rocks,  because  it  was  warmer 
there. 

Not  long  had  there  been  fire  in  the  caves,  and  in  some 
tribes  they  had  no  fire  at  all,  and  ate  flesh  raw.  Once  the 
old  man,  Hair's  father,  tried  to  tell  me  what  his  father  had 
told  him  of  how  they  first  learned  that  they  could  bring  fire 
with  lighted  brands  from  the  fire  mountains.  It  was  a 
wonder  that  he  could  remember  so  much.  Now,  when 
the  fire  failed  us  we  went  to  the  burning  places  miles  away 
and  lighted  fagots  and  journeyed  back,  building  fre 
quent  fires  on  our  way,  so  that  each  of  us  could  keep  his 
torch  alight  until  we  reached  the  caves  again.  It  was 
rarely,  though,  that  this  was  necessary,  for  we  had  learned 
to  keep  our  fires  by  covering  giant  brands  with  ashes  when 


34  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

we  went  away,  and  when,  at  times,  a  failure  came,  the  fire 
could  usually  be  renewed  from  another  cave.  Always  some 
of  the  old  women  or  old  men  remained  at  home  to  keep 
the  fires  alight.  Our  life  was  fierce  and  simple.  We 
thought  little,  and  cared  not,  save  for  the  moment.  We 
were  hungry  and  must  eat;  we  were  cold  and  must  seek 
warmth;  we  were  in  peril  and  must  flee  or  fight;  we  had 
the  elementary  passions  and  must  mate;  we  had  rages 
sometimes  and  sought  to  slay.  There  were  not  many  of 
us  in  the  long  gorge  or  valley,  though  nature  had  made  it 
a  place  abounding  in  caves  everywhere.  We  were  but  a 
dozen  or  two  in  all,  doubtless  all  related  or  descended  from 
a  single  family,  and  the  nearest  creatures  of  our  kind  were 
another  group  living  in  the  hills  far  to  the  southward. 
These  people  we  seldom  met,  and  when  by  chance  there 
was  a  meeting,  it  was  with  a  somewhat  sullen  watchful 
ness  on  either  side,  though  we  had  never  warred.  Such 
were  we,  hungry  and  gorged,  alternately,  alert  among  the 
other  creatures,  seeking  some,  fearing  some,  chasing  or 
fleeing,  and  having  the  vast  advantage  of  being  almost 
omnivorous  in  our  feeding.  And  there  was  a  fierce  joy 
to  it  as  well.  Hoo !  It  was  a  life ! 

We  four  trooped  onward  together,  for  we  had  made  a 
plan,  and  when  we  neared  the  cave  of  Ugh  we  howled  to 
gether  and  he  joined  us,  grim  as  the  great-jawed  hyena. 
We  wanted  him  along  because  we  might  have  need  of  one 
who  could  deal  strong  blows,  and  his  club  was  heavy.  I 
envied  hjm  that  tough  club  of  blackened  wood,  the  more 
so  because  it  chanced  that  I  alone  among  us  might  not 
find  the  thing  too  mighty  for  the  arm. 

We  needed  force  that  day,  for  ours  was  to  us  a  mighty 


THE  AXEMEN  35 

prospect.  There  were  urus,  which  Woof  had  discovered 
a  day  or  two  before,  now  pasturing  in  a  not  distant  low 
land,  and  the  slaying  of  the  urus  was  a  great  event  com 
parable  only  to  the  rare  killing  of  the  aurochs,  the  mighty 
bison  of  the  time.  Woof  had  discovered  a  band  of  urus 
a  day  or  two  before  feeding  in  a  narrow  valley  which 
ended  in  a  precipice  some  thirty  feet  in  height  as  it  neared 
the  river.  In  this  valley  were  various  small  mounds,  and 
we  could,  by  utilizing  these,  get  the  urus  between  us  and 
the  river,  and  by  loud  shouting  and  a  sudden  rush  drive 
them  in  a  panic  to  their  deaths.  This  had  been  done  once 
in  the  past  and  might  be  done  again.  We  went  eastward 
through  the  hills,  until  we  could  see  the  urus  feeding  be 
low,  and  then  crept  down  into  the  valley,  ever  keeping 
the  little  mounds  between  us  and  the  grazing  beasts,  Ugh 
in  the  lead.  Then  something  happened.  There  was  a 
threatening  bellow  as  Ugh  crept  by  one  of  the  mounds 
between  us,  and  he  sprang  back,  with  abundant  reason, 
for,  within  twenty  yards  of  him  was  a  huge  bull  feeding 
apart  from  the  rest.  For  a  moment  the  beast  stood  still, 
then,  with  lowered  head  and  glaring  eyes,  charged  sav 
agely  upon  the  hunter,  while  the  rest  of  us  fled,  yelling. 

Not  a  moment  too  soon  did  Ugh  leap  and  crouch  be 
side  the  mound,  but  even  his  mortal  peril  did  not  destroy 
his  hardihood.  Even  as  he  eluded  the  rush,  he  swung  his 
club  and  brought  it  down  with  all  his  might  as  the  brute 
swept  by,  seeking,  by  some  chance,  to  stun  him.  It  was 
not  to  be,  nor,  because  of  an  amazing  happening,  was  Ugh 
in  further  peril.  It  was  the  strange  chance  in  a  thou 
sand,  but  the  club,  driven  so  hardly  by  that  enormous,  mus 
cular  arm,  came  fairly  down  upon  the  sharp  point  of  one 


36  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

of  the  great  horns  and,  dense  and  tough  as  was  its  fibre, 
split  and  impaled  itself  and  was  wrenched  from  the  grip 
of  Ugh  as  the  beast  crashed  by.  And  then  followed  a 
grotesque  spectacle. 

Stunned,  dazed,  crazed  with  the  pain  of  the  benumbing 
blow,  the  urus  galloped  blindly  about  in  circles,  bellowing 
and  almost  bleating  and  shaking  its  great  head.  The  im 
paled  club  was  flung  off  at  last,  flying  a  score  of  yards, 
and,  a  moment  later,  the  beast,  regaining  his  senses,  went 
dashing  off  in  the  direction  already  taken  by  the  flying 
herd.  So  ended  the  urus  hunt.  We  had  failed,  but  that 
hunt,  in  its  indirect  results,  was  vast  in  its  effects  upon  the 
future  of  the  Cave  men. 

Ugh  regained  his  weapon,  split  at  its  end,  and,  as  we 
gathered  again,  stood  gazing  upon  it  ruefully.  We  wan 
dered  away  to  where  the  creek  of  the  valley  entered  the 
river,  and  found  crayfish  and  the  eggs  of  waterfowl,  and 
feasted  merrily,  and  lay  there  resting  in  a  place  where  the 
sun  shone  warm  on  the  rocks. 

But  Ugh  could  not  keep  his  eyes  from  his  split  club. 
It  was  rent  fairly  across  the  middle  of  its  heavier  end  for 
a  length  of  more  than  a  foot  from  its  head,  and  he,  with 
his  strong  hands,  could  pull  the  sides  an  inch  or  two  apart. 
Woof  stood  beside  him,  and  as  Ugh  thus  strained  the  wood 
until  there  was  an  opening,  Woof,  in  sheer  sport,  dropped 
into  the  inviting  space  a  great  flake  of  flint  which  had 
parted  from  the  rock  and  lay  there  ready  to  his  hand.  As 
Ugh,  surprised,  released  the  parts  they  clashed  together 
upon  the  flint  and  held  it  there,  for  the  wood  was  tough 
of  fibre  and  had  a  vicious  springiness.  There,  held 
strongly  and  tenaciously  in  the  jaws  of  the  cleft  club,  was 


THE  AXEMEN  37 

the  broad,  heavy  flint  flake,  its  sharp  edges  outstanding 
inches  on  either  side.  In  the  hand  of  Ugh  was  a  rude  axe, 
the  first  whose  handle  was  ever  clutched  by  man ! 

We  all  stood  looking  curiously  at  this  strange  mingling 
of  wood  and  stone,  when  Ugh,  with  a  hoarse  cry,  swung 
it  aloft  and  waved  it  above  our  heads  in  mock  threaten 
ing  and  shouted  "  Kill ! "  Well  might  he  yell  out  "  Kill ! " 
We  knew  it  could  do  that  were  the  stone  but  firmly  fixed, 
and  we  all  alike  yelled,  but  wondered  at  it.  The  stone  was 
left  in  the  club  just  as  it  had  been  gripped  and  so  was 
carried  back  with  us.  More  than  it  did  the  others,  the 
stone  and  wood  so  seemingly  grown  together  in  what 
might  be  a  mighty  weapon,  fascinated  me.  For  the  split 
club  with  a  stone  —  already  we  sometimes,  by  signs,  ex 
changed  things  in  the  beginning  of  all  barter  —  I  gave  Ugh 
my  own  fine  club,  and  my  new  possession  I  carried  with  me 
to  my  cave  that  night.  A  dim  idea  of  something  great 
was  forming  in  my  mind.  Could  the  stone  be  held  there 
always,  what  a  weapon  I  would  have!  I  smote  with  the 
rude  axe,  and  unshattered  and  unmoved  it  bit  deep  into 
thick  tree  bark.  With  repeated  strokes  the  axe  stone 
loosened  a  little  in  its  accidental  socket  and  I  was  troubled. 
I  strained  it  into  proper  bearing  in  the  cleft  again  and 
studied  how  to  make  it  permanently  firm.  The  problem 
was  still  with  me  when  I  reached  our  cave  with  Woof.  It 
came  to  me  to  tie  the  axe  as  we  tied  things,  with  sinews 
—  for  we  had,  somehow,  learned  how  to  make  a  knot  — 
and  with  sinew  I  toiled  long  beside  the  fire  until  I  had 
bound,  with  my  utmost  straining  strength,  and  firmly 
fastened  together  the  intersection  of  the  rugged  flake  of 
stone  and  the  tough  wood.  Then  I  ran  out  and  down  the 


38  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

path  in  the  moonlight  and  tried  the  axe  recklessly  upon 
a  tree  trunk  and  found  the  stone  immovable.  It  could 
not  be  wrenched  nor  sprung  from  the  eye.  I  had  an  axe ! 
The  axe,  mightiest  weapon  and  implement  in  the  hand 
of  man  for  thousands  of  years  to  come,  had  been  invented 
by  chance,  and  rudely,  in  a  single  day.  The  age  of  wood 
and  the  club  alone  had  passed.  The  Age  of  Stone  had 
come! 

So  I  alone  had  the  axe,  and  soon,  in  our  hunting  as  in 
the  littler  things,  like  the  getting  away  of  a  vine  in  our 
paths  through  the  forest,  as  compared  with  the  axe  the 
club  was  a  feeble  thing.  The  sharp  stone  could  shear  the 
little  things,  and  the  sharp  and  heavy  stone,  driven  deeply, 
could  bring  death  where  the  club  might  only  stun  or 
bruise.  With  the  axe  I  could  readily  open  a  way  along 
the  thick  skin  of  a  slain  thing,  making  easy  the  stripping 
for  the  flint  flakes,  and  with  the  axe  I  could  divide  the 
body.  We  must  all  have  axes !  With  my  own  I  split  the 
ends  of  other  clubs,  and  flint  flakes  were  sought  to  bind  in 
them,  and  soon  all  grown  males  of  our  kith  and  kin  bore 
axes  as  did  I.  But,  oddly  enough,  there  was  no  axe 
possessed  in  all  the  clan  quite  so  hard  and  rightly  shaped 
and  keen  as  mine.  Nature  had  made,  accidentally,  a 
better  axe  than  we,  in  our  crude  and  bungling  way,  could 
fashion  at  the  time.  Yet  we  were  better  equipped  now 
than  ever  before  for  either  hunt  or  fray,  though  there 
came  soon  a  miserable  time  when  we  almost  lost  our 
courage  and  were  fearful  in  our  coming  and  going. 

There  was  a  broad  and  pleasant  wide-open  space,  al 
most  a  plain,  in  the  near  forest  which  was  our  nearest  and 
favoured  hunting  ground,  It  was  acres  in  extent  and 


THE  AXEMEN  39 

upon  it  were  hosts  of  berry  bushes  and  little  nut  thickets, 
in  which  harboured  many  hares  and  small  game  of  all 
sorts,  and  also  birds  that  ran  upon  the  ground  where  were 
nuts,  which  were  good  to  eat.  Food  of  some  kind  we 
always  found  there.  In  the  midst  of  this  small  plain 
uprose,  as  if  all  out  of  space,  though  near  the  mountains, 
a  long,  huge  rock,  perhaps  some  twenty  feet  in  height, 
and  with  sides  so  sheer  that  none  except  a  man  or  other 
climbing  animal  could  reach  the  top.  But  some  great 
upheaval  had  split  this  monster  rock  crosswise,  and  so 
there  gapped  through  it  a  passageway,  broad  at  one  end 
and  narrowing  at  the  other,  the  space  between  the  walls 
filled  with  soil  up  to  the  level  of  the  land  about.  There 
stood  this  strange  split  rock,  almost  in  the  midst  of  this 
little  plain,  of  so  much  importance  to  us,  but  which  now 
we  dared  not  enter.  There  had  come  there  one  of  the 
things  we  feared  and  had  made  it  his  chosen  haunt. 

What  brought  the  cave  bear  to  our  hunting  place  no  one 
could  tell.  It  may  have  been  the  berries  or  the  roots  or 
some  whim  of  the  beastly  savage  brain.  We  had,  shud- 
deringly,  to  hunt  around  but  not  near  the  little  plain,  and 
in  my  own  heart  a  great  anger  was  growing.  "Why? 
Why  ?  "  I  said  in  my  dull  brain. 

Whatever  the  cause,  there  he  was,  and  one  day,  when 
two  of  the  cave  men  had  ventured  a  little  way  in  the  bushes, 
one  of  them  was  smitten  down  by  a  huge  paw,  and  the 
other  heard  but  one  gasp  in  the  bushes  as  he  fled.  Daily, 
watching  from  the  treetops  which  fringed  the  place, 
could  we  see  the  hulking  monster  as  he  ranged  the  open 
spaces  or  went  toward  his  lair,  to  be  lost  there  for  a  while. 
And  near  that  thicket  lair  rose  the  vast  rock. 


40  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

One  night  we  were  together,  a  company  of  us,  in  the 
great  cave  of  Hair  and  Gurr,  and  we  were  hungry,  because 
we  had  come  from  bad  hunting  toward  the  north.  We 
could  have  found  more  had  we  not  feared  to  invade  the 
bushy  plain,  and  I  could  have  howled  aloud  in  anger,  for 
I  was  half  famished.  I  thought  of  the  purple  berries  and 
the  sweet  nuts  and  the  sucking  roots  and  the  little  things 
to  kill,  and  I  sulked  off  alone  and  dared  and  ventured  in 
my  mind,  and  there  came  the  thought,  a  thing  so  dread 
ful  that  I  gasped  in  the  thinking  of  it,  yet  which  clung  to 
me  as  fiercely  as  cling  the  vines  which  bear  the  blood-red 
blossoms  on  the  rocks.  And  my  dreams  came  to  a  red 
climax  the  next  day,  when  one  man,  venturing  into  the 
borders  of  the  plain,  just  narrowly  escaped  the  monster. 
All  through  the  night  I  tossed  fitfully,  and  again  the  des 
perate  fancy  gripped  me.  I  leaped  to  my  feet  and 
swung  my  axe  and  yelled  out  "Bear"  and  "Kill!"  and 
Woof  awakened  and  leaped  in  alarm,  and  laughed  when 
he  saw  that  I  seemed  raving.  Sometimes  Cave  men  had 
madness. 

But  the  craze  was  on  me,  and,  the  next  morning,  I  ran 
up  and  down  the  valley  and  howled  aloud  and  screamed 
and  yelped  that  I,  I  alone,  would  kill  the  monster  in  the 
plain.  The  others  heard  my  ravings  and  came  out,  but 
they  only  grinned  and  chuckled,  though  all  followed  me  as 
I  turned  and  ran  southward  and  toward  the  wood-path 
which  led  through  the  forest  to  where  was  the  little  plain 
—  and  death.  I  did  not  linger,  and  my  following  tribe 
ran  close  behind  me  until  I  reached  the  very  edge  of  the 
dangerous  ground,  when,  as  monkeys  climb,  they  swarmed 
into  the  treetops  while  I  slipped  forward  among  the  bushes, 


THE  AXEMEN  41 

a  crazed  and  yet  contained  thing,  half  demented,  strong 
and  unconsciously,  blindly,  seeking  what  seemed  suicide, 
but  —  with  the  Axe. 

I  crept  into  a  little  pathway  and  saw  nothing,  and  so 
slipped  along  unhindered  until  I  reached  the  rock.  I 
climbed  it,  tremblingly,  for  another  mood  had  come  upon 
me  now.  I  was  afraid.  I  threw  myself  down  upon  the 
stone  and  shook  all  over  as  the  leaves  shake  in  the  aspen 
tree  which  the  wind  owns.  So  in  awful  terror  I  tossed 
about  for  a  time  until,  in  my  very  desperation,  the  rage 
came  back  again  and  I  cared  for  nothing  in  all  the  world, 
for  the  blue  sky  or  the  people  in  the  treetops  or  myself  or 
death  or  mangling.  I  leaped  to  my  feet  and  danced  up 
and  down  and  whooped  and  swung  my  arms.  Then,  in  a 
near  thicket,  there  was  a  rustle,  and  "woof,"  and  the 
huge  cave  bear  rushed  forth  and  gazed  about. 

Slowly  at  first,  looking  up  toward  me,  the  monster  came 
shuffling  and  shambling  into  the  open.  He  saw  me  plainly 
now,  and  there  was  another  great  "woof,"  a  growl,  and 
he  lurched  forward  with  astounding  swiftness.  And  then 
just  when  the  dread  was  most  appalling,  the  awful  sick 
ness,  which  had  come  again,  left  me,  and  I  became  cold 
of  blood  and  insanely  crafty  and  blood-hungry.  Then  I, 
the  Axeman,  dropped  to  the  ground,  not  a  score  of  yards 
before  the  approaching  beast ! 

The  monster  uprose,  for  a  moment,  apparently  aston 
ished,  then  plunged  forward  with  a  growling  roar  as  I 
dashed  in  flight  between  the  gaping  jaws  of  the  split  rock. 

Not  twenty  yards  through  the  rock  did  the  fissure  run, 
but  I  was  near  that  fearful  paw-stroke  when  I  leaped 
through  the  further  narrow  opening  and  fell  panting  to 


42  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

the  ground.  And  even  as  I  sprawled,  the  great  body 
hurled  and  wedged  itself  into  the  tapering  space,  and  the 
"swish"  of  the  paw  passed  close  beside  my  head.  I  lay 
just  out  of  reach.  I  could  see  the  red  jaws  and  grinding 
teeth  and  wicked,  glaring  eyes  and  hear  the  rush  of  the 
foul  breath  above  me. 

Straining  outward  with  his  one  free  arm  the  brute 
struck  savagely,  and  his  great  strokes  fairly  whistled 
through  the  air  as  they  swept  within  a  hand's  breadth  of 
me.  For  a  moment  I  was  faint  again  with  the  sickening 
fear,  and  then  once  more  the  change  came.  I  leaped  to 
my  feet  and  yelled.  There,  pushing,  gnashing  his  teeth 
and  striking,  clawing  blows  in  vain,  was  the  monster  who 
had  been  our  dread.  I  became  a  sudden  demon.  I 
roared  as  roars  the  tiger.  I  danced  about  closely  as  the 
beast  strained  out  with  lowered  head,  and  then  I  leaped 
in  as  the  paw  went  by  and  whirled  my  axe  aloft  and  struck. 
What  a  blow  was  that!  When  had  even  the  strong  arm 
of  the  Cave  man  delivered  stroke  as  mighty  as  that  which 
sent  my  axe  clean  to  the  haft  into  the  bone  and  brain  of 
that  huge  head?  Clean  to  the  haft  the  blade  was  driven, 
and  there  it  stayed  as  I  leaped  backward  wrenching  in 
vain  at  the  tough  handle.  I  shrank  aside  to  avoid  an 
other  stroke,  but  that  was  needless.  There  was  a  roar, 
a  wild,  helpless  clawing,  and  then  the  huge  head  in  which 
the  axe  was  buried  sagged  downward  and  the  monstrous 
thing  was  dead!  I,  single-handed,  had  slain  the  great 
cave  bear!  Never  before  in  all  the  happenings  of  time 
had  so  great  a  thing  been  done ! 

The  shuddering,  breathless  people  in  the  treetops  were 
the  insane  ones  now.  Their  frenzied  shoutings  filled  the 


THE  AXEMEN  43 

wood  at  first,  and  soon  they  were  around  me,  but  wonder 
ing  and  awestricken  and  silent  again.  Their  demeanour 
toward  me  was  such  as  they  had  never  shown  before.  I 
was  greater  than  they.  The  huge  body  of  the  bear  was 
hauled  out  and  the  skin  taken,  toilsomely,  and  ever  after 
I  slept  upon  it  in  my  cave. 

The  world  had  changed  for  me.  I  was  another  being 
and  I  could  not  help  it.  I  had  been  called  "Scar"  be 
cause  of  the  great  scar  upon  my  face  straight  up  and 
down  from  eye  to  jaw,  but  they  changed  my  name  and 
called  me  "Bear,"  and  like  a  bear  I  must  have  grown 
somewhat  as  time  passed.  The  news  of  the  great  slaying 
went  about  among  the  creatures  of  our  kind  as  far  as 
our  world  extended  and  I  became  an  awesome  man  apart. 
Even  Woof,  my  comrade,  seemed  half  afraid  of  me  and, 
at  last,  following  the  mating  instinct,  took  a  mate  and 
went  away  from  me  to  live  in  a  cave  far  up  the  gorge.  I 
had  it  in  my  mind  to  take  a  mate  myself,  and  resolved 
upon  an  almost  burly  woman  of  the  Cave  people  I  had  met 
afar,  who  feared  nothing  and  who  hunted,  sometimes 
alone,  as  did  the  men.  I  went  to  get  her,  but  she  had  dis 
appeared.  She  had  hunted  once  too  often  recklessly. 
I  might  have  taken  another,  but,  I  know  not  why,  the 
mood  to  do  so  never  came  again.  I  still  joined  with  the 
others  in  the  chase  and  my  axe  stroke  was  the  heaviest, 
and  none  surpassed  me  whenever  there  was  danger  to  be 
met. 

And  the  seasons  and  the  years  passed,  and  all  men  had 
the  stone  axes,  and  we  fed  well,  and  children  were  born, 
and  the  people  of  the  long  gorge  grew  in  number.  Then 
came  a  pall.  The  world  was  going  wrong. 


44  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

Creeping  as  creeps  the  snake  in  the  grass  and  bushes, 
down  where  the  rocks  shelve  off  into  the  lowlands,  had 
come,  with  the  swiftly  passing  seasons,  a  dreadful  some 
thing.  The  sun,  the  big  blazing  thing  up  in  the  sky, 
seemed  growing  old  and  helpless  and  did  not  warm  us 
as  he  had  before.  And  down  the  sides  of  the  mountain 
came  crawling  those  wide  blue-white  cloaks  of  ice,  never 
stopping,  always  crawling. 

The  seasons  had  been  changing  steadily.  Each  year 
was  unlike  the  one  before  it,  with  skies  more  lowering  and 
chillier  blasts  and  less  of  sunshine.  And  in  the  cold  time 
the  snow  fell  and  stayed  longer  than  in  the  past  and  did 
not  leave  the  mountain  tops  at  all  in  summer,  and  the 
days  of  the  seasons  when  the  sun  shone  and  there  came 
the  fruits  and  nuts  were  not  so  many.  Ever  the  grass 
upon  the  plains  grew  less  and  the  creatures  feeding  there 
became  less  in  their  numbers,  and  it  was  not  good  hunting. 
There  was  a  constant  thinning  of  the  creatures  which  felt 
the  change  and  ever  they  turned  toward  the  south,  the 
south  above  which  the  sun  seemed  to  shine  less  coldly. 
The  chill  came  even  to  me,  and  I  thought  dimly  that  it 
might  be  because  I  was  no  longer  young,  for  I  had  seen 
old  men  shudder  when  the  cold  came.  But  it  was  not 
that,  it  was  the  world  itself,  the  ice  sheets  pushing  them 
selves  down  from  the  north. 

Sometimes  the  hunters,  venturing  too  far  away,  ham 
pered  in  snow,  would  become  exhausted  and  go  to  sleep,  and 
when  they  did  this  they  never  woke.  When  we  found  them 
they  would  not  answer,  and  we  took  their  axes  and  left 
them.  It  came  to  me  at  last,  that  we  must  do  as  had  done 
the  beasts,  and  flee  southward,  where,  perhaps,  it  would 


THE  AXEMEN  45 

be  warmer.  Why  had  I  not  sooner  seen  the  need?  Why 
had  our  clan  alone  been  reckless  fools  and  failed  to  join 
the  birds  and  beasts,  and  others  of  our  own  kind? 

The  cold  became  more  dreadful.  The  wind  howled  and 
swept  away  the  snow,  leaving  bare  the  ice  masses  on 
mountains  down  which  swift  streams  had  once  run.  The 
great  river  was  ice-locked  and  silent.  An  awful  stillness 
came  upon  the  world  about  us,  so  that  our  own  cries 
sounded  hoarse  and  loud.  We  were  cold  and  starving 
and,  at  last,  we  were  forced  together  in  the  cave  of  Hair 
and  Gurr,  where  there  was  room  for  all  who  remained  of 
us.  We  gathered  much  fuel  and  kept  up  a  fire,  about 
which  we  huddled,  famished  and  desperate.  The  end 
seemed  very  near. 

One  night,  a  storm  fiercer  than  any  we  had  ever  known, 
raged  down  the  valley.  From  the  mouth  of  the  cave  we 
could  see  but  the  swirling  drifts  and  hear  only  the  roaring 
and  shrieking  of  the  wind.  But  at  midnight  it  seemed 
to  me  I  could  distinguish  another  sound  amid  the  un 
earthly  clamour.  It  was  different  from  the  other  noises,  a 
bellowing  in  which  was  a  note  of  fear.  I  had  heard  the 
trumpetings  of  the  great  mammoths  once,  and  this  some 
what  recalled  the  sound,  but  it  could  not  be.  This  was 
no  haunt  of  the  monster  things,  yet  from  somewhere  up 
the  gorge  the  sound  continued,  now  higher  or  lower  and 
sometimes  moaning  and  most  pitiful.  Near  morning  it 
ceased  entirely,  but  I  must  know  what  it  meant.  At  day 
break  I  started  up  the  gorge  with  four  companions. 

We  did  not  have  far  to  go.  Fighting  our  wiy  through, 
we  came  to  a  mighty  hollow  in  which  the  Sixow  had  drifted 
to  a  depth  many  times  the  height  of  a  man,  and  there, 


46  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

plunged  deeply,  almost  buried,  was  an  enormous,  brown, 
hairy  mass.  It  was  incredible;  it  could  not  be  that  there 
had  come  to  us  such  salvation,  but  it  was  true.  Here  was 
a  strayed  mammoth,  last  of  his  gigantic  kind  in  the  ac 
cursed  region,  caught  helpless  in  the  pass  and  dead,  now 
to  our  hands ! 

With  shouts  of  joy  that  were  near  to  madness  we  hurled 
ourselves  down  upon  the  mountain  of  flesh,  hewed  fran 
tically  with  our  axes  and  cut  out  great  chunks  of  meat  and 
bore  them  to  the  cave,  and  there  the  whole  starved  com 
pany  of  us  roasted  and  ate  until  we  could  eat  no  more. 
We  could  but  eat  and  lie  about  and  sleep  and  eat,  and  sleep 
again  throughout  all  that  day  and  night.  And  the  next 
day,  with  much  hewing  and  many  burdened  journeys,  the 
whole  of  the  vast  body  was  stored  within  the  cave.  We 
were  prisoners,  but  we  had  food  and  warmth.  Soon  all 
were  strong  again  and  there  was  almost  merriment,  for 
we  were  foolish. 

We  fed  —  for  we  were  not  many  and  the  body  of  the 
mammoth  was  a  monster  thing  —  we  fed  and  lounged  be 
fore  the  flames  for  many  days,  but  we  did  not  think, 
though  the  wind  still  roared  outside  and  the  drifts  were 
becoming  deeper.  I,  who  should  have  been  wiser  than 
the  others  —  fool  that  I  was  —  remained  as  dazed  and 
warm  and  sluggish  as  the  rest.  Surely  the  trials  which 
had  come  upon  us  must  have  changed  me.  But  at  last  I 
woke  to  an  affrighted  half-understanding.  The  heap  of 
mammoth  flesh  was  growing  smaller,  and  warmth,  it 
seemed  to  me,  might  never  come  again.  The  storm  ceased 
and  a  cold  sun  appeared  and  we  could  see  the  way,  at 
least,  along  the  silent  valley.  We  must  go  or  die.  I  be- 


THE  AXEMEN  47 

came  a  furious  thing.  I  leaped  about  and  shouted.  I 
whirled  my  axe  and  threatened  overmasteringly.  I  made 
all  left  of  the  following  burden  themselves  with  what  re 
mained  of  the  flesh  and  so  drove  them  out  before  me  to  the 
southward. 

All  day  long  we  plodded,  and  when  night  fell  we  har 
boured,  shiveringly,  in  a  vacant  cave,  and  with  the  next 
morning  took  up  the  journey  again,  though  some  fell 
fainting  as  we  struggled.  We  left  them  as  they  fell,  for 
we  could  do  no  more.  And  then,  toward  the  evening  of 
the  third  day,  I  caught  my  foot  in  a  rock  crevice  and 
wrenched  my  ankle  as  I  lurched,  so  that  I  heard  the  bones 
crack,  and  I,  the  strongest,  became  in  a  moment  the  most 
helpless  of  the  band.  I  plunged  and  floundered  ahead  in 
agony.  I  bellowed  as  does  the  bull  to  his  dun  following, 
but  my  companions  did  not  heed  me.  We  were  past  all 
helping  and  I  was  left  alone.  I  fell  prone  in  the  deep 
snow  and  the  cold  crept  upon  me.  It  was  bitter  cold. 
And  then  to  me  it  became  less  cold,  and  the  snow  began 
falling  heavily  and  softly  again,  covering  me  with  a  warm 
blanket.  I  was  tired  and  I  could  but  sleep,  restfully,  too, 
as  often  I  had  done  after  some  long  chase.  And  I  had 
barely  slept  when  there  came  to  me  dreams  like  the 
pleasant  memories  of  a  thousand  years.  There  were 
soft  skies  above  me,  and  waving  boughs,  and  a  fragrance 
in  my  nostrils.  And  a  laughing,  apish  face  peered  at  me 
from  between  the  branches  bright  with  blossoms.  And 
then  there  came  other  visions,  but  dimmer  and  more  sense 
less,  and  so  I  slipped  away  into  all  dreamlessness. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  BOWMEN 

THE  sunlight  was  filtering  down  upon  me  through 
the  broad  foliage  of  a  tree  of  an  unfamiliar  kind. 
Birds  with  hooked  bills,  brilliant  plumage,  and 
squalling  voices  were  flitting  among  the  branches  all 
about.  The  rank  perfume  of  strange  flowers  was  in  my 
nostrils,  and  to  my  ears  came  a  pleasant,  distant  sound, 
the  softened  roar  and  lapping  of  waves  upon  a  beach.  I 
was  lying  in  a  little  glade,  wood-surrounded  on  three 
sides,  but  open  to  the  southward.  Through  the  space 
thus  unobscured  I  could  see  a  blue  expanse  of  sky  but 
nothing  more,  prone  as  I  was  upon  the  turf,  my  head  rest 
ing  on  what  was  soft  and  furry,  the  folded  skin  of  some  wild 
animal.  I  was  faint  and  weak;  my  eyes  were  opened  for  a 
moment  only,  and  then  once  more  I  slept.  An  hour  later 
I  awoke  again,  refreshed  and  stronger,  and,  with  much 
difficulty,  succeeded  in  raising  myself  upon  an  elbow.  My 
appreciation  of  things  was  returning  slowly  and  it  seemed 
to  me  —  I  cannot  tell  why  —  that  I  was  not  alone,  that 
there  must  be  another  presence  in  the  glade.  I  turned 
my  head  as  well  as  my  position  would  allow,  and  looked 
about  me. 

Seated  upon  a  little  hummock  was  a  woman  and,  even 
as  I  turned,  she  saw  the  movement  and  ran  toward  me 
with  a  glad  cry.  She  was  a  splendid  creature.  Tall  she 

48 


THE  BOWMEN  49 

was,  and  her  long  hair,  thrown  back  uncombed  and 
tangled,  swung  down  below  her  slender  waist.  There 
was  down  upon  her  brown  arms  and  her  bare  legs,  and  she 
moved  with  the  swift  grace  of  the  tiger  or  leopard  kind. 
Her  mouth  was  large,  and  her  teeth  gleamed  sharply,  but 
it  was  a  fair  mouth  nevertheless,  and  her  eyes  were  dark 
and  deep.  Her  only  garment  was  a  soft  robe  of  coney 
skin  passing  over  one  shoulder,  and  leaving  half  the  full 
bosom  exposed.  The  robe  was  held  close  to  her  body  by  a 
belt  of  some  sort  and  extended  to  her  knees.  Brown  she 
was  indeed,  a  creature  of  the  sun  and  air  and  storm,  yet 
her  skin  was  smooth  and  soft.  But  it  was  her  eyes  I  saw. 
They  spoke  to  me. 

The  appearance  of  the  woman  did  not  surprise  me.  It 
seemed  a  matter  of  course  that  she  should  be  there,  and 
my  heart  leaped  as  I  looked  upon  her.  I  was  still  dazed, 
but  I  knew  that  she  belonged  to  me.  There  was  a  sense 
of  protective  ownership  of  her  and  of  a  need  of  her,  this 
savage  beauty  whom  I  might  smite  if  she  displeased  me, 
but  for  whom  I  would  battle  to  the  death.  She  was  be 
side  me  in  a  moment,  kneeling  with  a  pitying  look  in  her 
eyes  and  beginning  at  once  to  unwind  the  strings  of  inner 
bark  which  held  in  place  a  huge  bandage  around  my  leg 
not  far  above  the  knee.  Very  gently  and  carefully  she 
removed  the  mass  of  green,  wet  leaves  covering  others 
nearest  the  flesh.  These  macerated  into  a  sort  of  pulp. 
Cautiously  she  lifted  the  mass  and  there,  in  my  thigh,  I 
saw  a  gash  which  had  ceased  to  bleed  but  which  was  raw 
and  open.  Nor  deep  nor  dangerous  was  this  wound,  but 
evidently  I  had  lost  much  blood  and  so  had  fallen  weak 
and  senseless.  As  gently  as  she  had  taken  it  away  the 


50  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

woman  renewed  the  bandages  with  new  pulp  and  leaves 
and,  the  binding  finished,  she  looked  at  me  happily. 

"The  Boar,"  she  said. 

The  boar,  the  savage  boar!  Yes,  I  dimly  remembered 
now.  There  had  been  a  chase  somewhere,  and  the  wild 
boar  had  charged  me,  but  where  were  the  rest  of  my  tribe, 
those  I  had  led  away  from  the  devouring  of  the  mam 
moth,  to  take  up  the  desperate  southward  quest?  Where 
were  the  drifting  snows  and  the  fierce  winds  and  bitter 
cold  and  awful  loneliness,  the  drowsiness  and  dream  of 
death? 

The  bandage  in  its  place,  the  woman  sat  beside  me  and 
stroked  my  face  softly,  but  only  for  a  little  time.  She 
arose  quietly,  went  a  little  distance  away,  curled  herself 
down  upon  the  green  turf,  and  seemed  to  fall  asleep  on 
the  instant.  Then  I  realized  what  it  meant.  She  must 
have  been  alert  and  watching  throughout  the  night,  and 
how  much  longer  I  could  not  tell,  and  so  was  wearied,  if 
not  near  to  exhaustion.  My  own  strength  I  felt  return 
ing  to  me,  though  when  I  sought  to  rise  to  my  feet  I 
failed  miserably  because  of  the  pain  the  effort  brought  to 
my  wounded  leg.  I  crawled  to  the  foot  of  the  tree,  and 
leaning  my  back  against  the  trunk,  sought  to  collect  my 
scattered  senses  and  realize,  if  I  could,  the  situation. 
Where  could  I  be?  Who,  indeed,  was  I? 

As  my  glance  wandered  about  it  was  drawn  to  certain 
objects  upon  the  ground  not  two  yards  away  from  me. 
Only  one  of  them  was  familiar;  it  was  a  stone  axe,  but  the 
haft  was  of  a  different  wood  and  colour  from  that  of  the 
axe  with  which  I  had  slain  the  great  cave  bear,  and  the 
heavy  blade  was  polished  so  that  it  shone  in  the  sunlight. 


THE  BOWMEN  51 

It  was  a  beautiful  axe  and  I  resolved  that  I  must  have  it, 
if  it  were  not  mine  already.  Beside  the  weapon  lay  some 
thing  which  greatly  puzzled  me  at  first.  It  was  a  long 
shaft  of  some  tough  wood,  but  its  head  was  of  stone  like 
that  of  the  axe,  though  of  a  different  shape,  long  and  sharp 
and  pointed  and  held  in  the  shaft's  split  end  by  knotted 
sinews.  At  last  I  comprehended;  it  must  be  a  spear,  but 
the  only  spears  we  had  ever  known  in  the  land  of  cold  were 
long  sticks  sharpened  at  the  end  and  charred  and  hardened 
in  the  fire.  They  were  but  trifling  things  compared  with 
what  this  must  be  in  the  fight  or  hunt. 

But  it  was  what  remained  that  most  aroused  my  cu 
riosity  and  perplexed  me.  There  was  a  stout,  springy 
length  of  ash,  as  long  nearly  as  my  own  height,  with  the 
ends  bent  toward  each  other  and  so  held  by  a  strong  sinewy 
cord  which  stretched  between  them.  Lying  beside  this 
curious  thing  was  a  number  of  very  slender  shafts,  each 
notched  at  one  end  and  bearing  at  the  other  a  little  stone 
head  shaped  like  that  of  the  spear.  I  could  not  under 
stand  them  and  finally  gave  up  the  problem.  I  crawled 
back  to  the  skin  bundle  and  lay  down  and  slept  again. 

It  had  been  mid-forenoon  when  my  latest  sleep  began; 
when  I  awoke  it  was  almost  night.  I  was  aroused  by  the 
call  of  a  pleasant  voice  beside  me,  "Scar!  Scar!"  and  the 
continuous  patting  of  a  hand  upon  my  shoulder.  I  was 
wide  awake  and  with  my  mind  all  restored  in  an  instant. 

"What  is  it,  Otter?"  I  answered. 

She  laughed  joyously.  "You  know  again;  you  will 
soon  be  well.  He  struck  hard,  but  the  cut  is  not  deep. 
Soon  you  will  run.  Your  arrows  killed  him.  We  will 
go  and  eat." 


52  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

All  this  she  said  in  short,  chattering  words  and  with 
much  gesticulation.  It  was  an  odd  sort  of  incomplete 
speech.  She  helped  me  to  my  feet  and  I  found  that  I 
could  stand  without  much  difficulty.  I  managed  to 
hobble  along  by  her  side,  leaning  on  her  heavily.  My 
wound  ceased  to  pain  me  and  my  strength  was  fast  re 
turning.  As  for  my  dreams  of  cold  and  of  other  things, 
such  as  the  great  beast  buried  in  the  snow,  they  were  but 
dreams,  assuredly. 

We  came  out  upon  a  far  extending  shore,  and  there, 
magnificently  coloured  in  blue  and  crimson  by  the  sky 
and  the  setting  sun,  extending  beyond  all  vision,  heaved 
the  mighty  sea.  How  great  was  then  the  later  named 
Mediterranean!  Far  back  where  now  the  desert  is,  lay 
its  unseen  southern  shores,  and  the  strand  upon  which 
we  stood  lay  farther  to  the  north  than  when  existed  king 
doms  of  later  ages.  The  spectacle  was  wonderful,  but  all 
familiar  to  me. 

We  passed  slowly  along  the  shore  until  we  reached  a 
rocky  place  wherein  was  a  little  hollow  in  front  of  which 
was  burning  a  fire  replenished  by  my  anxious  mate  while 
I  had  slept.  Brands  for  the  fire  had  been  brought  from  our 
distant  cave  before  my  hurt  had  been  received.  Otter 
led  me  into  the  little  opening  and  brought  flesh  of  a  boar 
from  a  hiding  place  in  the  rocks  and  roasted  it  in  the  fire 
and  fed  me  to  repletion.  Then,  having  eaten  herself  as 
eats  a  healthy,  omnivorous  animal  of  the  wild,  she  coiled 
down  beside  me  in  the  little  recess,  after  leaning  logs  and 
driftwood  against  the  opening,  as  some  defence  against 
all  prowling  things.  My  weapons  she  placed  at  my  hand. 

I  awoke  in  the  morning  astonishingly  refreshed,  and 


THE  BOWMEN  53 

could  limp  about  without  the  assistance  of  Otter,  and  with 
little  pain.  We  must  go  inland  to  where  were  the  ledges 
and  where  was  our  cave  among  the  others.  There  I 
could  rest  easily  until  all  my  strength  returned.  So  we 
took  up  the  slow  journey  and  entered  the  forest,  plodding 
doggedly  along  the  paths  within  its  depths.  We  had  with 
us  some  of  the  roasted  boar's  flesh  and  ate  of  it  when  we 
were  hungry. 

On  the  journey  we  came  upon  a  little  open  space  where 
were  great  birds,  the  bustards,  moving  about,  and  I 
killed  one  with  an  arrow,  rejoicing  the  while  that  I  was  so 
good  a  bowman.  Otter  carried  the  huge  bird  lightly, 
saying  we  should  have  the  best  of  food  when  we  reached 
our  home.  My  dazedness  of  the  day  before,  when  I 
failed  to  recognize  my  weapons,  was  all  gone  now.  Was 
not  I,  Scar,  the  greatest  archer  among  my  people?  Was 
not  Otter,  my  mate,  the  greatest  in  the  water  of  them 
all?  Yet,  as  to  Otter,  it  had  been  but  a  little  time  since 
the  Cave  people  had  learned  to  swim.  Like  the  monkeys, 
which  we  sometimes  shot  with  arrows  in  the  woods,  the 
Cave  men  had  ever  dreaded  the  water.  It  was  in  the  days 
of  our  great,  great  grandfathers,  so  the  very  old  men  told 
us,  that  the  change  came,  and  then  by  accident. 

There  had  been  a  wide  and  deep  creek  close  beside  the 
caves  in  which  our  forefathers  dwelt,  and  it  had  been  a 
great  barrier  between  the  rocky  country  and  good  hunt 
ing  grounds  on  the  other  side.  One  day  my  own  great 
grandfather,  when  a  young  man,  slipped  upon  a  wet  stone 
and  fell  into  the  water  and  was  swept  away  and  they  did 
not  even  look  for  him,  for  in  those  days  he  who  fell  into 
deep  water  was  drowned,  and  what  good  to  seek  for  that 


54  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

which  was  gone?  But  my  great  grandfather  caught  hold 
of  a  piece  of  light  driftwood,  and  though  it  would  not 
lift  him  entirely,  yet,  with  his  chin  upon  it,  his  head  was 
sustained  above  the  water  until  he  reached  a  shallow 
place  where  he  could  wade  ashore.  He  came  back  to  the 
caves  and  beat  my  great  grandmother  sorely,  because  she 
was  eating  when  he  returned.  He  brought  back  with  him 
the  bit  of  driftwood  and  thenceforth  played  in  the  water 
with  it,  tying  it  beneath  his  chin  and  making  great  strokes 
with  his  arms  and  legs  until  there  came  a  day  when  he 
found,  to  his  wonder,  that  he  did  not  need  the  driftwood 
to  sustain  him,  but  could  go  about  in  the  water  as  did  the 
otter  and  the  beaver,  though  never  in  a  way  to  equal  them. 
And  others  tried  to  do  as  he  did,  and,  though  some  were 
drowned,  in  the  end  it  came  that  all  the  Cave  people, 
even  the  children,  could  swim.  A  great  advantage  was 
this  in  the  hunt  or  on  a  journey  of  any  kind.  And  among 
us  all,  at  this  time,  my  mate,  my  slender  Otter,  was  swift 
est  in  the  water.  So  her  name  had  come  to  her. 

We  travelled  far  this  day  and  crossed  many  streams 
and  I  was  nearly  spent,  when  after  nightfall  we  came  upon 
ledges  of  tumbled  rocks  uprising  near  the  river  and  in  the 
midst  of  a  dense  wood,  and  there  entered  our  own  cave 
without  arousing  any  of  the  people  in  the  other  caves.  It 
was  not  a  large  cave,  but  was  most  comfortable.  There 
was  a  great  bed  of  moss  covered  with  skins  beside  one  of 
the  brown  walls,  and  from  an  ash-filled  hollow  at  one  side 
Otter  uncovered  still  glowing  embers.  In  front  of  this 
hollow  were  a  lot  of  stones  laid  carefully,  whereon  meat 
could  be  roasted.  Just  inside  the  cave's  entrance,  but 
not  large  enough  to  entirely  fill  it,  was  a  round  rock  of 


THE  BOWMEN  55 

sandstone,  not  too  heavy,  which  Otter  alone  rolled  into 
the  opening.  We  sought  the  couch  of  moss  and  skins  and 
slept  at  once,  for  each  of  us  was  weary. 

I  awoke,  it  seemed  to  me,  almost  well,  for  from  flesh 
wounds  we  Cave  men  recovered  swiftly.  I  awoke  with 
a  fragrance  in  my  nostrils.  Otter  had  already  risen,  and 
the  bustard,  cleanly  plucked,  was  roasting  on  the  stones 
before  the  fire  my  mate  had  built.  We  ate  most  of  the 
big  bird  at  that  one  meal,  for  we  had  slept  long  and  were 
hungry.  Then,  with  Otter  beside  me,  I  took  my  bow  and 
bark  quiver  of  arrows  and  limped  outside  the  cave.  We 
had  hardly  come  into  the  sunlight  when  there  came  to 
our  ears  a  shout  and  the  twanging  of  a  bowstring  and,  a 
moment  later,  around  a  turn  in  the  ravine,  appeared  the 
Climber,  often  my  companion  in  the  hunt.  He  was 
shooting  arrows  upward  and  catching  them  as  they  fell, 
in  mere  sport,  shouting  meanwhile  to  arouse  me,  for  he 
did  not  yet  know  that  I  had  been  lamed  by  the  boar. 
We  called  to  him  and  he  clambered  up  to  us  and  heard  the 
story  of  my  hunt,  laughing  only  when  he  heard  its  issue, 
for  we  did  not  sympathize  deeply  in  that  age,  though  we 
would  sometimes  fight  for  each  other  valiantly  enough. 
The  Climber  was  armed  as  I  with  bow  and  spear  and  clad 
in  the  same  way,  with  only  a  clout  of  skin  about  his 
middle.  Despite  his  careless  demeanour  he  had  news  to 
bring.  Some  of  the  Hill  men  had  been  seen  lurking  about 
at  the  foot  of  the  wooded  mountain  slopes  to  the  west 
ward! 

The  Hill  men  were  our  natural  enemies  and  had  been 
so  since  a  time  beyond  which  none  of  the  old  men  could 
remember.  They  were  unlike  us  in  their  ways,  existing 


56  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

chiefly  on  fruit  and  nuts  and  roots,  which  they  stored  in 
the  mountain  caves,  where  they  lived,  and  they  had  no 
bows,  carrying  only  stone  axes  and  long  spears.  They 
hunted  less  than  we,  but  were  extremely  strong  and  savage 
and  their  numbers  made  them  dangerous.  Many  a  wan 
derer  of  the  Cave  men  had  disappeared  when  these  hairy 
savages  of  the  hills  had  sometimes  invaded  our  side  of 
the  river,  and  word  of  a  threatened  raid  by  them  was  but 
a  signal  for  more  than  ordinary  caution. 

In  a  few  days  I  was  well  again  and  the  fight  with  the 
big  boar  something  almost  forgotten.  There  came,  for 
a  time,  no  incident  in  the  life  of  our  scattered  group.  We 
hunted  and  fished  and  fed  well  and  were  warm,  for  it  was 
a  good  country  and  the  climate  mild.  But  for  old  Fang, 
the  arrow-maker,  there  would  have  been  a  pleasant  enough 
monotony  to  our  existence.  Fang  was  more  vicious  than 
any  of  the  beasts  in  the  wood;  he  seemed  more  like  the 
Things  we  had  never  seen,  but  dreaded,  the  Things  which 
whispered  strangely  when  the  wind  blew  through  the  for 
ests  at  night  and  which  roared  and  bellowed  when  the  great 
storms  came.  He  was  not  like  the  rest  of  us.  He  was 
the  first  monopolist,  too,  the  world  had  ever  known. 

Our  arrows  were  excellent,  not  rude  chipped  things  such 
as  our  ancestors  had  known,  but  smoothed  and  polished 
and  keen-edged  and  deadly  when  launched  by  a  strong 
arm  from  a  strong  bow.  A  task  it  was  to  make  an  arrow 
such  as  one  of  ours,  for  there  was  first  the  rude  chipping 
and  then  the  weary  polishing  of  the  flint  by  rubbing  it 
upon  wetted  sandstone.  Few  of  us  had  patience  for  all 
this,  and  old  Fang,  who  lived  alone  in  a  cave  in  a  thicket 
close  beside  a  little  waterfall  of  the  brook  running  down  to 


THE  BOWMEN  57 

the  river,  was  arrow-maker  for  most  of  us.  We  paid  him 
for  the  arrows  by  bringing  him  meat  and  skins  and  all 
the  means  for  living,  and  his  wicked  eyes  would  gleam 
when  we  brought  them  to  him. 

He  was  a  misshapen  creature,  with  one  leg  so  distorted 
that  it  made  him  half  a  cripple,  teeth  which  protruded 
viciously,  and  eyes  like  those  of  the  snakes  which  sunned 
themselves  upon  the  clogged  driftwood  beside  the  river 
banks.  A  great  archer  he  was,  but  he  seldom  hunted,  for 
he  could  but  limp,  with  his  twisted  leg.  At  last  came  a 
time  when  he  never  went  abroad  at  all.  It  came  curi 
ously  and  in  a  wicked  way. 

The  fall  in  the  little  brook  which  ran  beside  the  cave 
of  Fang  was  but  three  or  four  yards  in  height,  but  the 
water  dropped  sheerly  and  strongly  and  had  worn  a  little 
hollow  in  the  stone  beneath,  a  broad  bowl  a  yard  across, 
in  which,  in  ?,  miniature  whirlpool,  the  waters  swirled 
round  and  round  as  if  aboil.  One  day  a  hunter  who  had 
brought  to  Fang  some  arrow-heads  to  be  polished,  ac 
cidentally  dropped  one  of  them  in  the  water  as  he  leaped 
the  brook  above  the  falls  and,  counting  it  lost,  paid  no 
attention  to  it.  The  keen  eye  of  the  arrow-maker  had 
seen  the  thing  and,  knowing  that  the  arrow-head  could  be 
easily  recovered,  he  said  nothing.  He  would  get  it  for 
himself. 

The  old  man,  busied  at  his  work,  forgot  the  arrow-head 
for  a  month,  then  one  day  he  remembered  and  found  it 
at  last  amid  the  swirling  pebbles  and  looked  upon  it  in 
astonishment  as  he  drew  it  forth.  Not  with  all  his  la 
bour  of  rubbing  the  flint  heads  upon  coarse  sandstone 
could  he  polish  an  arrow  like  to  this,  The  sand  and  peb- 


58  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

bles  in  the  foaming  bowl  had  done  the  work  far  better  than 
could  he.  An  idea  came  to  him.  The  pool  should  be  his 
and  his  alone,  and  the  water  and  the  little  pebbles  should 
do  his  polishing.  So  he  put  chipped  arrow-heads  into 
the  bowl  and,  after  that,  the  hunters  for  a  time  wondered 
more  than  ever  at  the  perfection  of  his  work. 

One  day  an  old  woman  leading  a  child  and  seeking  nuts 
came  close  to  the  edge  of  the  falls  and  peered  over  the 
bank  curiously.  Her  body  was  found  there  later  and  it 
was  plain  that  an  arrow  had  passed  through  it,  though 
the  shaft  could  not  be  found.  The  child,  which  had  fled 
shrieking  back  to  the  cave,  could  but  tell  what  the  old 
woman  was  doing  when  she  fell  down.  Later,  a  hunter 
who  lingered  carelessly  near  the  pool  was  shot  as  ruth 
lessly,  but  lived  long  enough  to  reach  companions  to  whom 
he  could  give  no  account  as  to  whence  the  arrow  came. 
But  all  understood.  There  was  little  justice  then,  and 
there  were  no  attempts  at  punishment.  The  old  demon 
owned  the  waterfall.  As  for  me,  I  paid  slight  heed  to  the 
matter.  For  that  I  nearly  lost  my  Otter. 

One  day  I  had  shot  an  arrow  into  a  wild  pig  in  a  wooded 
height  just  beyond  the  cave  of  Fang  and,  as  I  pursued  it 
straightforwardly  through  the  bushes,  Otter  ran  around 
through  an  open  space  to  intercept  its  flight  and  pierce 
it  with  another  arrow,  if  she  might,  for  she  shot  almost  as 
well  as  I,  though  far  less  strongly.  She  was  near  the  pool 
when  the  pig  dashed  from  the  thicket,  and  she  shot  at  it 
as  I  broke  through.  Then,  of  a  sudden,  she  shrieked 
wildly  and  dropped  her  bow  and  I  saw  her  bravely  pluck 
ing  at  an  arrow  which  had  pierced  her  arm.  It  had  come 
from  the  cave  of  Fang.  I  called  to  Otter,  who  had  al- 


THE  BOWMEN  59 

ready  darted  into  the  bushes,  and  she  came  running  to  me. 
I  drew  the  arrow  forth  with  little  difficulty,  for  it  was  not  a 
dangerous  wound,  though  through  no  fault  of  the  mur 
derous  archer.  Only  Otter's  swift  step  as  she  shot  at 
the  pig  had  kept  the  arrow  from  her  body. 

We  went  back  into  the  wood  and  there  I  left  Otter  while 
I  circled  about  to  regain  the  cave  of  Fang.  I  saw  him 
close  beside  the  pool  and  shot,  though  it  required  a  long 
arrow-flight.  The  shaft  lowered  with  the  distance,  but 
pierced  him  slightly  in  the  thigh,  and,  with  a  snarl,  he 
glided  into  the  bushes  and  behind  the  trunk  of  a  great  tree. 
A  moment  later  an  arrow  tossed  my  hair,  and  then  I,  too, 
went  into  hiding.  We  sought  glimpses  of  each  other  as 
we  circled  about,  but  there  was  no  fair  chance  afforded 
until  my  quiver  was  emptied  and  then  —  for  Fang  could 
not  run  as  could  I  —  I  rejoined  my  mate  in  safety.  I 
knew  that  either  Fang  or  I  must  die. 

There  was  little  thought  of  Fang  after  we  had  reached 
the  cave.  There  was  heard  all  about  us  the  cry:  "The 
Hill  men!  The  Hill  men!"  and  there  was  reason  for  the 
alarm.  A  great  band  of  the  mountain  savages  had  just 
been  seen  by  a  hunter,  going  up  the  river  on  the  further 
bank.  Well  we  knew  what  that  portended.  They 
outnumbered  us  five  to  one,  but  the  Hill  men  could  not 
swim  and  they  were  going  up  the  river  to  the  first  shallow 
where  they  could  cross  in  safety.  The  fording  place  was 
where  a  gorge  entered  the  river  through  a  rock  which 
rose  in  a  long  precipice  on  either  side.  Into  and  up  this 
gorge,  if  they  could,  must  the  Hill  men  come.  All  the 
Cave  people  were  now  together  and  we  held  anxious  con 
sultation.  It  seemed  to  me  that  there  was  but  one  thing 


60  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

to  do,  and  in  the  end  all  our  fighters  agreed  with  me. 
We  must  assemble  at  the  mouth  of  the  gorge  before  the 
Hill  men  reached  the  place  and  there  dispute  the  crossing 
to  the  end;  there,  with  our  bows  and  upon  firm  ground, 
we  might  have  some  chance  against  them  despite  their 
overpowering  numbers.  Soon  all  those  capable  of  fight 
were  on  the  hurried  march,  including  over  half  the  women. 
Only  the  old  men  and  women  and  the  children  were  left 
in  the  caves,  since  all  lives  were  at  stake.  Even  the  venge 
ful  old  Fang,  who  had  been  summoned,  was  limping  with 
us,  for  he  was  in  equal  danger  with  the  rest.  All  night  we 
wound  our  way  along  the  forest  paths  and  by  dawn  were 
in  the  gorge,  where  we  rested  and  ate  of  the  dried  food 
brought  with  us.  No  Hill  men  appeared  in  sight  until  a 
little  after  noon  and  then  they  came  in  what  seemed  to  us 
a  host.  There  were  of  us  Cave  men  and  women  some 
seventy -five,  of  the  Hill  men  at  least  four  hundred,  fierce 
looking  creatures,  armed  with  spears  and  stone  axes,  and 
terrifying  to  look  upon.  Yet  our  fathers  had  once  beaten 
them  and  why  should  not  we?  We  had  a  vast  store  of 
arrows  and  good  bows,  and  better  spears  and  axes  than 
had  the  foe. 

They  came,  bellowing  like  wild  beasts,  and  we  went 
down  the  sloping  bank  to  meet  them  at  the  crossing. 
The  leader,  a  huge  creature,  shaking  his  spear  threaten 
ingly,  plunged  in  first  and  I  yelled  with  delight  as  I  saw, 
when  he  reached  the  middle  of  the  river,  that  the  water 
rose  to  his  armpits.  As  he  gained  a  shallower  part  and 
upreared  his  hairy  breast,  I  drove  an  arrow  into  it,  and 
his  spear  fell  and  he  toppled  over  and  was  swept  down 
stream.  My  comrades  were  doing  as  well,  since  there 


THE  BOWMEN  61 

was  room  for  nearly  all  of  us  to  shoot;  and  the  slaughter 
was  fairly  on!  The  Hill  men  seemingly  knew  no  fear. 
They  plunged  in  from  behind  by  scores  and  one  or  two 
had  almost  reached  our  banks  when  they  were  speared, 
one  after  another,  by  Bull,  the  most  gigantic  of  the  Cave 
men,  who  had  rushed  in  to  meet  them.  Still  they  came 
in  a  desperate,  roaring  mass.  So  I  have  seen  a  herd  of 
the  great  aurochs  cross  a  stream  mightily.  There  were 
not  enough  of  us  to  do  the  killing.  The  waters  of  the 
river  were  red.  More  than  half  the  Hill  men  had  been 
slain,  but  the  pack  came  howling  on,  now,  still  more  like 
monstrous  wolves.  We  shot  until  there  was  no  more 
time  to  notch  our  arrows,  and  then  we  waded  in  a  little 
way  and  met  them  with  our  spears  and  axes.  I  had  no 
fear;  I  was  but  a  raging,  blood-thirsty,  killing  thing!  We 
held  them  at  bay  for  a  time,  and  so  many  of  them  were 
slain  that  now  they  did  not  more  than  twice  outnumber 
us,  but  those  of  us  in  front  were  exhausted  by  the  struggle, 
and  the  remnant  of  the  Hill  men  were  still  fresh.  I  stag 
gered  back,  as  another  Cave  man  took  my  place,  and 
went  a  little  up  the  slope  and  refilled  my  quiver  and  stood 
there  breathing  heavily  for  a  moment  with  others  as  spent 
as  I.  That  breathing  space  did  us  good,  and  well  that  it 
was  so,  for  it  saved  the  Cave  men.  There  was  a  wild  cry, 
a  yielding,  and  our  comrades  lower  down  came  pressing 
back  upon  us.  The  Hill  men  had  gained  the  shore!  We 
rallied  to  the  fight,  but  there  could  be  no  more  arrow- 
shooting.  It  was  spear  and  axe  work  now.  Ever  raging 
in  front,  the  leader  of  the  remaining  Hill  men  was  a  giant 
whose  spear  seemed  irresistible,  and  more  than  one  of 
the  Cave  men  fell  before  him.  The  sight  drove  me  into 


62  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

a  still  more  murderous  craze.  I  was  rested  now.  I  leaped 
forward  to  meet  the  grisly  savage  and  in  a  moment  we 
were  facing,  with  spears  clattering  together.  It  was 
death  for  the  Hill  man!  He  was  stronger,  but  not  so 
swift  as  I  at  this  deadly  fencing,  and,  as  I  turned  his 
spear  aside,  I  leaped  in  and  drove  my  own  cleanly  through 
him.  He  toppled  with  a  roaring  growl,  like  that  of  a 
bear  dying,  and,  with  that,  a  panic  came  upon  the  Hill 
men  and  they  turned  and  fled,  pursued  and  speared  as 
they  floundered  in  the  waters  of  the  river.  The  fight  was 
over! 

And  then,  just  then,  as  I  lifted  my  hand  to  my  stream 
ing  face,  something  smote  me  fiercely  in  the  back  and  I 
looked  dazedly  at  an  arrow-head  which  protruded  from 
my  breast.  I  turned,  tottering,  to  see  the  stone  axe 
of  the  Climber  crash  down  into  the  head  of  the  glaring 
Fang,  who  crumpled  weakly  to  the  ground,  and  to  see 
Otter  running  toward  me,  screaming  and  with  arms  out 
stretched.  Then  I  pitched  forward  upon  my  face, 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  CLANSMEN 

IT  WAS  dark,  absolutely  dark,  and  I  could  hear  no 
sound.  I  could  not  remember  who  I  was  nor  where  I 
was,  and  there  came  upon  me  something  like  a  feeling 
of  alarm,  though  I  felt  that  to  be  afraid  of  anything  was 
most  unlike  me.  Furthermore,  I  was  in  pain;  there  was  a 
hurt  in  my  breast  and,  instinctively,  I  clutched  at  the  place 
with  my  hand.  Ah!  I  knew  what  it  must  be  —  a  pro 
truding  arrow-head  —  and  I  strove  to  get  such  a  hold 
upon  it  that  I  could  pull  it  forth  in  the  hope  that  so  relief 
would  come,  but  I  could  not  get  my  grasp  upon  the  thing. 
What  had  become  of  it?  My  mind  wandered  in  a  search 
for  all  about  me  and  an  understanding  of  it.  I  had  a 
dreamy  vision  in  my  mind  of  some  rocky  gorge,  of  ene 
mies  coming  up  from  a  sloping  river  bank,  of  a  desperate 
struggle  there,  and  of  my  own  part  therein,  which  seemed 
to  end  with  a  murderous  bowshot  from  behind,  driving  a 
shaft  through  my  body;  but  what  had  happened  after 
ward?  Where  had  they  carried  me  and  how  could  I  be 
living  after  such  fearful  hurt?  I  fumbled  still  at  my  breast 
seeking  the  arrow-head,  and  found  at  last  what  I  had 
mistaken  for  it.  It  was  but  a  jagged  piece  of  flint  which 
had  slipped  in  between  my  flesh  and  the  rough  skin  coat  I 
wore  and  which,  as  I  had  borne  upon  it,  turning  in  my  sleep, 
had  pricked  me  sharply  and  awakened  me.  There  was 


64  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

no  arrow-head  nor  trace  of  wound.  I  could  not  under 
stand  it,  but  I  no  longer  feared;  I  only  realized  that  I  was 
cold.  I  felt  about  me  in  the  darkness  and  my  hands  fell 
upon  what  I  recognized  as  the  skins  of  animals,  and  I  drew 
them  together  and  over  me  from  head  to  foot  and  was 
warm  and  slept  again.  When  I  awoke  the  darkness  was 
not  so  dense;  light  came  in  through  an  opening  not  far 
away  and  I  could  distinguish  objects  about  me. 

I  lay  upon  the  floor  in  a  sort  of  niche  in  a  cave.  Weap 
ons,  as  I  judged  them  to  be,  leaned  against  the  wall  oppo 
site,  and  away  beyond  them,  close  to  the  wall,  lay  a  gray 
heap  over  which  I  puzzled.  I  studied  it  at  first  dreamily 
and  then  curiously,  as  the  light  grew  stronger  from  the 
narrow  arched  entrance,  then  started  half  upright,  for 
the  gray  thing  seemed  alive.  It  heaved  uneasily  and  I 
forgot  my  own  perplexity  as  to  who  I  was  or  where  I  was 
in  watching  the  mysterious  thing.  All  at  once  the  mys 
tery  was  solved.  The  mass  separated,  part  of  it  upheaved, 
and  then  I  understood.  There  had  been  a  man  sleeping 
there,  like  me,  beneath  a  heap  of  wolf  skins.  As  he  arose 
he  turned  his  face  toward  me  and  called  out  hoarsely  but 
cheerily  enough:  "Oo-ee!  Scar!" 

"Oo-ee,"  I  answered  back  instinctively.  I  knew  that 
his  call  was  but  to  learn  if  I  were  awake  and  I  knew,  too, 
that  I  was  his  friend  and  comrade.  I  became  instantly 
another  being  from  the  one  lying  dazed  and  dreaming 
the  moment  before.  The  thought  of  all  that  dim  vision 
of  some  fight  at  a  ford  and  my  own  awful  hurt  there, 
passed  as  the  smoke  goes  when  the  wind  sweeps  over  a 
fire,  and  swift,  keen  memory  of  all  that  related  to  my 
present  relations  and  surroundings  returned  to  me  at 


THE  CLANSMEN  65 

once.  Why,  there  we  were  in  our  cave,  Six  Toes  and  I, 
and  it  was  morning.  I  called  out  to  him : 

"I  am  hungry,  Six  Toes;  let  us  eat." 

He  grinned,  went  over  to  the  back  of  the  cave,  drew 
forth  strips  of  dried  meat  from  a  store  heaped  up  there, 
and  I,  getting  to  my  feet  at  the  same  time,  took  from  the 
weapons  by  the  wall  our  two  stone  axes.  We  sat  down 
together,  hacked  away  fragments  of  the  cold,  hard  meat, 
and  ate  as  ravenously  as  two  wild  animals. 

It  was  all  simple  enough.  Why  had  I  so  awakened 
still  dreaming  of  a  river  and  a  fight  in  a  region  warm  and 
pleasant?  Certainly  in  such  a  country  I  had  never  lived, 
though  dreams  of  it  had  come  to  me  before  and  I  was  in  no 
such  country  now.  Here  was  I  with  Six  Toes,  at  mur 
derous  odds  with  others  of  our  kind  and  with  a  prospect 
ahead  of  us  as  dangerous  as  uncertain.  Not  that  it  wor 
ried  us  much.  We  were  only  less  reckless  of  what  was  to 
come  than  the  prowling  creatures  of  the  swift,  ever-fear 
ing  grass-eaters  of  the  plains. 

Six  Toes  was  tall  and  strong,  and  so,  indeed,  was  I, 
though  not  so  great  of  bulk  as  he.  He  was  a  huge  man, 
though  springy  as  the  reindeer,  and  the  crush  of  his 
hairy  arms  was  something  to  be  feared  in  any  grapple. 
We  were  garbed  nearly  alike,  each  in  a  single  garment 
made  of  skin  reaching  from  neck  to  knee,  with  holes  for 
the  arms  and  belted  at  the  waist  with  a  thong  of  rawhide. 
The  garment  of  Six  Toes  was  of  a  single  bearskin;  mine 
of  wolfskin  well  stitched  together  with  long  sinews.  In 
each  of  our  belts  whenever  we  left  the  cave  was  a  stone 
axe,  and  each  bore  as  well  his  bow  and  arrows,  and  some 
times  his  flint-headed  spear.  In  a  skin  pouch  hanging 


66  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

from  the  belt  in  front  we  carried  the  smaller  things  —  the 
stone,  skinning  and  cutting  knife,  and,  it  might  be,  dried 
meat.  Our  arrows  we  carried  in  skin  quivers  slung  across 
our  backs.  We  had  no  other  clothing  or  weapons  or  gear 
of  any  kind,  but  our  axes  and  our  arrow-heads  and  knives 
were  sharp  and  polished  and  our  bows  were  strong.  The 
Cave  men  everywhere  had  learned  many  things. 

We  two  were  not  in  a  good  way,  even  as  ways  went 
with  the  Cave  men  in  that  rough  land  and  time.  We 
were  outlaws  —  I,  Scar,  and  Six  Toes,  a  greater  personage 
than  I,  and  all  because  of  the  deadly  enmity  between  my 
companion  and  the  head  man  of  our  clan.  We  had  been 
driven  from  the  great  galleried  cave  in  the  cliff  beside  the 
river  a  mile  above  us  where  all  had  sought  refuge  together 
for  the  harsh  winter,  and,  thus  forced  to  fare  alone,  had, 
after  some  perilous  wandering,  found  shelter  in  this  smaller 
and  less  pleasant  and  safe  abode.  We  were  cold,  but  in 
this  respect  not  so  greatly  worse  off  than  the  body  of  the 
clan  who,  through  rare  misfortune,  were,  temporarily, 
nearly  as  unfortunate  as  we.  The  winter  was  upon  us. 
Long  ago,  so  the  legend  of  the  story-telling  old  men  ran, 
our  people  had  drifted  to  the  south,  where  was  a  warmer 
clime,  but  something  had  driven  them  northward  again 
and  they  had  long  lived  a  roving,  sturdy,  and  fierce  com 
munity  in  a  country  of  rock  and  plain,  fruitful  in  season, 
it  is  true,  and  with  good  hunting,  peopled  as  it  was  by 
many  grass-eating  brutes  and  furred  beasts  of  prey,  and 
warm  as  well,  but  hard  to  bear  in  winter  because  of  the 
breath  of  northern  glaciers. 

Now,  the  clan  had  been  for  a  time  in  a  strait  such  as 
was  never  known  before.  Venturing,  because  of  an  unac- 


THE  CLANSMEN  67 

countable  influx  of  the  deer  and  the  little  wild  horses,  into 
a  ruder  country  than  our  ordinary  haunts,  we  had  lost 
our  fire.  There  were  no  fire  mountains  here,  and,  despite 
the  finding  of  the  big  cave,  living  had  become  uncomfort 
able.  We  had  not  yet  learned  the  art  of  making  fire  our 
selves,  and,  when  the  clan  moved  as  a  body,  carried  it 
always  with  us,  moving  slowly  and  making  fires  ahead  on 
our  way  as  far  as  the  runners  could  go  with  brands. 
Now,  it  had,  for  once,  been  neglected  by  the  keepers  in 
the  cave  and  become  lost,  and  we  must  half  freeze  and  live 
on  roots  and  nuts  and  dried  meat  until  we  should  visit 
some  distant  clan,  or  the  fire  from  the  sky,  as  it  some 
times  did,  should  smite  some  towering  dead  tree  and  make 
it  burn  for  us.  But  no  such  good  fortune  had  come,  and 
those  of  our  own  kind  of  whom  we  knew  were  far  removed 
from  us,  and  sometimes  hostile.  We  must  endure  until 
the  warm  time  came  again. 

The  little  cave  in  which  Six  Toes  and  I  —  he  was  called 
Six  Toes  because  he  had,  when  a  youth,  left  four  of  his 
toes  in  the  jaws  of  a  savage  river  fish,  though  the  hurt 
did  not  impair  his  strength  or  swiftness  —  were  harbour 
ing  was  close  to  the  edge  of  a  declivity  which  overhung 
the  river  valley.  We  were  savagely  restless  and  discon 
tented,  and  not  without  great  reason.  Not  only  against 
the  bear  and  wolf  and  prowling  tiger  of  the  time  must  we 
be  on  guard,  but  against  even  the  creatures  of  our  own 
kind  and  clan. 

The  deadly  enmity  between  Six  Toes  and  the  chief 
among  the  Cave  men  was  all  because  of  Laugh,  the  shrewd 
and  swift  and  always  merry  daughter  of  old  Hairy,  de 
sired  by  the  huge  leader,  Wolf,  and  desired  also  by  Six 


68  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

Toes,  my  friend,  he  who  had  found  me  a  child  abandoned 
by  some  wandering  tribe  and  who  had  reared  me  as  his 
younger  brother,  teaching  me  all  his  craft  of  field  and 
fight,  and  making  of  me  one  not  lightly  to  be  encountered. 
With  him  and  beside  him  in  all  stress  I  would  always  be. 
So  it  had  come  that  we  were  one  in  our  watchful  exile. 

There  had  been  harsh  action  in  the  great  cave.  Wolf 
and  Six  Toes  had  each  asked  old  Hairy  for  his  daughter, 
and  the  old  man,  fearing  Wolf  the  more,  had  rather 
favoured  him,  while  the  girl  as  far  as  she  might  dare,  in 
clined  to  the  other  man.  The  time  had  come  in  the 
history  of  the  Cave  men  when  a  woman  could  scarcely  be 
taken  by  force  and,  next  to  Wolf,  Six  Toes  was  the  most 
important  man  among  us.  Then  came  the  craft  which 
was  our  undoing.  Wolf  and  his  immediate  and  obedient 
following  accused  us  of  a  great  crime  —  forever  I  was 
counted  one  with  Six  Toes  —  of  having  stolen  and  hidden 
in  the  wood  for  our  own  use  a  store  of  weapon  heads,  than 
which  there  was  no  more  valued  possession  in  the  commu 
nity.  Of  the  rarest  flint,  polished  and  keen,  were  these 
arrow-heads  and  spear-heads,  fashioned  with  infinite  care 
and  toil  by  the  men  too  old  for  hunting,  and  counted, 
rightly,  among  our  best  possessions,  for  arrows  were  often 
lost  in  the  hunt  or  carried  away  by  wounded  beasts.  To 
steal  of  these  reserves,  as  they  were  to  be  dealt  out  fairly 
from  the  common  store  at  need,  was  death.  Boldly  had 
Wolf  made  the  accusation  against  us  —  though,  as  the 
end  proved,  he  had  hidden  the  arrows  himself  —  and  had 
so  inflamed  all  the  men  that  we  escaped  the  stern  pen 
alty  only  by  sudden  flight.  As  crafty  as  he  was  fierce  and 
vicious  was  the  big  Wolf. 


THE  CLANSMEN  69 

We  had  found  the  little  cave  in  which  we  were  now 
concealed,  and  in  a  way  intrenched,  for  none  could  force 
the  narrow  entrance;  had  found  good  hunting,  and  so, 
gloomily  but  healthily  enough,  we  abode  together,  plan 
ning,  it  seemed  vainly,  some  scheme  of  retribution.  We 
chafed  and  raged,  thus  helpless,  like  the  great  wild  elk 
with  antlers  caught  in  the  thicket,  or  the  huge  bear  some 
times  imprisoned  in  a  pitfall  of  the  rocks.  The  life  we 
led  was  trying;  in  some  unguarded  moment  we  might  be 
stolen  upon  and  slain  by  Wolf  and  his  followers,  and,  be 
sides,  our  little  cave  was  colder  than  the  other.  The  life 
was  hardly  endurable.  Some  change  must  come;  upon 
that  we  were  resolved  alike  and  bitterly.  And,  when  the 
change  came,  it  came  swiftly  —  in  a  single  hour  —  with 
the  holding  of  a  new  power  in  our  hands,  something  never 
known  before  and  bringing  great  happenings  with  it.  It 
was  a  simple  thing,  but  wonderful  and  most  mysterious. 

One  somewhat  cold  but  glittering  afternoon,  having 
eaten  lightly  of  our  stored  raw  meat  and  nuts,  we  were 
lounging  in  front  of  the  cave,  where  it  was  warmer  than 
inside.  I  was  moving  about  listlessly,  noting  the  tracks 
made  in  the  snow  by  lurking  beasts  and  calling  once  in  a 
while  to  Six  Toes,  who  sat  upon  a  little  rock  enjoying  the 
sunshine  and  fumbling  idly  with  bits  of  shining  stone 
which  he  had  found  beside  him.  One  of  these  bits  he 
held  for  some  time  in  his  hand,  turning  it  carelessly  about. 
It  was  thin  at  the  edges,  roughly  oval  in  shape  and  singu 
larly  clear.  In  the  centre  on  each  side  it  rose  outward, 
smooth  and  even.  It  was  somewhat  like  a  transparent 
Arrowhead  and  I  remember  that,  as  I  came  to  the  side 
Of  Six  Toes,  I  wondered  if  we  could  not  put  it  to  some  such 


70  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

use.  A  flake  of  stone  just  like  it  I  had  never  seen  before. 
Then,  as  Six  Toes  turned  the  stone  in  his  hands,  a  darting 
yellow  gleam  fell  on  the  snow,  and  he  laughed  as  he  found 
that  by  moving  the  flake  he  could  shift  the  shining  spot  at 
will.  At  last  he  turned  it  upon  one  of  his  own  bare  feet 
and  in  sheer  curious  foolishness  held  it  there  in  one  place 
steadily.  But  not  for  long.  Suddenly  he  leaped  up  with 
a  howl  and  flung  the  thing  away  as  alarmedly  as  if  it  were 
one  of  the  little  adders  we  did  not  like  but  sometimes 
found  hidden  amid  the  leaves  where  the  nuts  were  on  the 
ground.  Something  had  bitten  or  burned  his  foot! 

I  ran  to  where  the  stone  had  fallen  and  picked  it  up  and 
examined  it  closely,  but  could  find  nothing  strange  about 
it  except  its  odd  shape  and  clearness.  How  could  I  know, 
how  could  Six  Toes  know,  that  he  had  stumbled  upon  the 
first  natural  burning-glass  that  men  had  ever  known,  a 
flake  of  tourmaline  brought  perhaps  with  a  boulder  from 
the  far  north  in  some  ancient  glacial  move  —  a  tourmaline, 
the  only  stone  which  flakes  in  such  a  way ! 

If  we  had  little  wisdom,  we  had  at  least  unbounded 
curiosity.  We  played  with  the  curious  thing  and  the 
yellow  spot  it  made,  and,  finally,  I  held  the  spot  upon  the 
stalk  of  a  dry  weed.  I  held  it  so  for  quite  a  time  and  then 
the  wonder  happened!  There  came  a  darkening  of  the 
weed's  fibre,  next  a  faint  smoking,  and  then,  suddenly,  a 
flame.  We  yelled  aloud  our  amazement  and  triumph  as 
we  danced  about.  We  were  beside  ourselves  with  joy. 
We  had  Fire! 

We  wasted  no  time  then.  We  gathered  armfuls  of  the 
stout  dry  weeds  and  laid  them  carefully  upon  the  one 
now  burning  and  added  such  fagots  of  dead  wood  as  we 


THE  CLANSMEN  71 

could  find.  Soon  we  had  a  bonfire  and  we  kept  it  going. 
Fire,  fire  in  abundance !  We  could  not  contain  ourselves, 
for  we  knew  all  that  it  meant  —  warmth,  always  warmth, 
and  the  fragrance  and  rich  taste  of  cooked  flesh.  I  dashed 
within  the  cave  and  brought  out  great  slabs  of  the  cold 
meat,  and  we  sharpened  long  thick  weeds  and  thrust  the 
meat  into  the  glowing  embers  until  it  curled  and  browned 
and  the  odour  and  savour  of  it  were  in  our  nostrils,  and 
then  we  ate !  We  ate  as  if  famished,  for  never,  it  seemed 
to  us,  had  been  so  great  a  feast  before.  It  brought  new 
life  and  courage. 

Gorged  at  last,  we  had  yet  energy  to  go  out  among  the 
reeds  and  gather  more  armfuls  of  them  and  stack  them 
near  at  hand  for  use,  and  then  we  clambered  down  the 
precipice  at  a  place  not  far  distant  where  we  could  reach 
the  river  bank,  and  brought  up  driftwood,  and  so  we 
worked  furiously  until  nightfall  and  until  we  had  a  great 
store  of  fuel.  Then  we  made  another  fire,  inside  the  cave, 
and  warmed  it,  and  there  we  ate  more  meat.  In  all  that 
region  there  were  no  others  so  fortunate  as  we.  We  were 
boastfully  merry.  Outside,  we  renewed  our  fire  upon  the 
very  edge  of  the  precipice  —  for  that  we  had  a  reason  — 
and  throughout  the  night  we  fed  it  in  turn,  one  while  the 
other  slept,  and  the  light  leaped  high  in  the  darkness,  a 
flaming  defiance  to  our  enemies.  What  would  they  think 
of  it,  they  in  the  great  cave?  It  was  not  long  before  we 
learned. 

They  had  seen  the  flash  of  fire,  as  the  night  fell,  and 
their  amazement  could  not  be  told.  Then  came  a  rage. 
Six  Toes  and  Scar  had  fire,  and  Wolf  and  all  the  band  had 
none  and  were  cold  and  ate  raw  meat.  The  thing  was 


72  A  SON  OP  THE  AGES 

unendurable!  The  outcasts  should  yield  up  their  great 
possession,  and  with  early  dawn  half  a  score  of  the  Cave 
men,  led  by  Wolf,  would  come  storming  down  the  valley 
to  kill  the  outlaws  and  bring  fire  to  where  it  was  most 
needed. 

As  morning  broke  we  saw  them  coming,  for  they  could 
not  remain  concealed  against  the  snowy  background.  We 
knew  their  errand  well,  and  Six  Toes  laughed  loudly,  but 
the  laugh  was  as  ugly  as  the  cough  of  the  lank  hyena 
which  cried  sometimes  in  the  wastes.  We  heaped  on  more 
fuel  and  made  the  fire  blaze  merrily,  but  we  saw  to  it  that 
it  was  at  the  very  edge  of  the  shelf  of  the  rock.  Six  Toes 
brought  out  his  spear  and  I  stood  beside  him  with  my  bow, 
an  arrow  clutched  on  the  string. 

They  came  rushing  toward  us,  armed  and  fierce,  and 
we  waited  until  they  were  not  two  hundred  yards  away. 
Then  Six  Toes,  with  shoves  and  sweeps  of  his  long  spear, 
hurled  every  particle  of  fire  from  off  the  ledge,  to  be  ut 
terly  quenched  in  the  deep  snow  of  the  far  depths  below. 
We  leaped  for  the  cave's  shelter  and  stood  inside  with 
notched  arrows  and  drawn  bows.  Eager  for  a  sight  of 
them  we  were,  but  could  not  get  it.  Even  Wolf  would 
not  venture  fairly  in  front  of  that  dark,  narrow  entrance. 
Death  was  waiting  to  leap  out. 

We  called  to  them  and  jeered  at  them,  but  there  came  no 
answer.  Finally  I  ventured  to  peer  forth  cautiously, 
and  saw  our  enemies  gathered  just  out  of  bowshot.  They 
stood  there,  baffled  and  raging,  and  we  came  into  sight 
and  howled  out  insults.  We  yelled  taunting  allusions 
to  those  who  hungered  for  the  taste  of  roasted  flesh  but 
not  for  the  taste  of  sharp  arrows  from  a  cave.  We  gibed 


THE  CLANSMEN  73 

and  mocked,  until  maddened,  they  started  toward  us, 
and  then  we  sought  the  cave  again,  only  to  come  forth 
once  more  as  they  moved,  and  yelp  out  things  concerning 
those  who  had  no  fire  and  must  eat  raw  meat  and  shiver 
all  the  time.  They  could  do  nothing  but  shake  their 
weapons  and  threaten,  and  at  last  they  stalked  away 
sullenly. 

The  sun  was  shining,  and  later  in  the  day  we  built  a 
fire  outside  again  and  laid  on  wet  leaves  to  make  a  tower 
ing  smoke  which  they  in  the  great  cave  might  see.  How 
they  must  marvel,  we  thought,  and  so  we  later  learned. 
Where  did  we  get  our  fire?  Was  it  possible  that  Six 
Toes  had  become  a  wizard  —  for  of  such  beings  there 
were  stories  even  then  —  a  medicine  man  such  as  had  been 
heard  of,  one  who  was  familiar  with  the  strange  things 
in  the  water  and  in  the  forest  and,  above  all,  with  the 
Black  Things  in  the  clouds  which  sometimes  made  streaks 
of  fire  when  the  storms  came?  Yes,  it  must  be  so;  and 
there  were  perplexity  and  apprehension.  What  might 
not  Six  Toes  do  next? 

But  not  for  long  could  such  a  state  of  things  exist. 
There  were  venturesome  men  among  the  hunters,  and 
Wolf  did  not  believe  in  wizards.  Furthermore,  it  was  in 
his  mind  that  Laugh  was  more  inclined  toward  his  rival 
than  to  him.  He  had  been  too  negligent.  The  fire  must 
be  secured  and  Six  Toes  and  Scar  slain  speedily ! 

Meanwhile  our  own  wrath  grew.  Was  it  not  enough 
that  we  had  been  driven  from  the  tribe,  wanderers  on  the 
waste,  lonely  as  outlying  wolves,  without  now  being  hunted 
down  as  if  we  were  wolves  indeed?  As  our  rage  increased, 
we  devised  a  plan  of  vengeance. 


74  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

As  I  have  told,  the  slight  ledge  in  which  was  our  cave 
projected  out  upon  a  narrow  shelf  which  overhung  the 
valley.  This  tongue  of  rock  held  the  cave  almost  at  its 
very  end,  the  opening  extending  back  but  a  few  yards, 
while  the  walls  were  of  slight  thickness.  Because  of 
these  thin  walls  there  came  to  us  a  great  idea.  We  would 
cut  holes  in  them  and  thus  have  a  view  on  either  side,  up 
or  down  the  valley,  and  from  them,  too,  send  murderous, 
unexpected  arrows.  The  stone  was  soft  and  the  openings 
were  soon  chipped  through  with  our  hard  flint  axes.  We 
hunted  stealthily  and  at  night  only,  for  we  feared  a  pos 
sible  surprise,  and  slew  one  of  the  little  wild  horses  and  a 
deer  and  hacked  them  apart  and  stored  away  the  meat, 
and  ever  carefully  within  the  cave  we  nursed  a  slight  fire, 
for  the  wonderful  stone,  we  had  now  learned,  would  not 
bring  flame  in  the  darkness  nor  when  the  sky  was  dull. 
So,  with  food  and  warmth  provided  and  weapons  at  our 
hands,  we  awaited  with  little  patience  the  time  of  certain 
fray.  Each  day  we  built  our  flaunting  fire  outside  and 
cooked  our  meat  there.  We  knew  the  fight  would  come. 
It  came  soon  and  in  a  way  we  had  not  thought  of. 

I  must  tell  here  of  what  I  learned  afterward.  There 
was  new  trouble  in  the  great  cave.  Wolf  had  again  de 
manded  Laugh  for  his  wife,  and  her  father,  the  aged  and 
feeble  Hairy,  could  not  protect  her  if  he  would.  She  was 
in  a  desperate  strait,  but  a  most  resolute  maiden  and  a 
daring  one  was  Laugh,  and  she  at  this  time  resolved  swiftly 
and  desperately.  She  had  watched  longingly  the  dis 
tant  smoke.  She  would  flee  to  Six  Toes,  who  was,  at 
heart,  her  choice.  Besides,  had  he  not  fire  and  roast  meat, 
and,  oh,  how  good  roast  meat  was ! 


THE  CLANSMEN  75 

Little  preparation  had  the  girl  to  make.  She  wrapped 
her  few  belongings  tightly  in  a  skin  which  she  fastened 
to  her  back  with  thongs,  and  then,  one  morning,  just  as 
the  light  was  coming  and  the  dangerous  creatures  of  the 
night  had  sought  their  hiding-places  in  the  hills  and  for 
ests,  she  glided  from  the  cave,  at  first  unnoticed,  and  began 
her  run.  The  sun  was  shining  all  over  the  snow  fields 
and  down  the  valley  now,  but  she  relied  upon  her  swift 
ness.  A  fourth  of  the  way  she  had  gained  when  Wolf, 
suspicious  concerning  her  and  ever  watchful,  seeking  her 
early,  found  that  she  was  not  with  her  father,  and,  rush 
ing  from  the  cave,  at  once  perceived  her  in  the  distance. 
He  knew  what  her  flight  portended.  He  seized  his  weap 
ons  with  a  bellow,  shouted  to  his  immediate  followers,  and 
bounded  forth  in  hot  pursuit. 

Fleeter  of  foot  than  most  of  the  Cave  women  was  Laugh, 
but  the  fall  of  snow  had  not  been  light  and  she  was  not 
as  strong  and  tireless  for  such  hampered  run  as  were  the 
angry  ones  pursuing  her.  They  gained  upon  her  almost 
from  the  first,  and  her  flight  became  more  straining,  though 
she  did  not  falter.  Bravely,  if  even  gaspingly,  she  ran, 
but  when  she  attained  the  slope  which  led  upward  to  the 
awaiting  shelter  the  rushing  Wolf  was  scarce  a  dozen 
yards  behind,  though  here  on  the  wind-swept  ascent  the 
snow  became  lighter  and  Laugh  almost  held  her  own. 
Then  she  did  what  alone  saved  her.  She  yelled  as  only  a 
Cave  woman  can  yell,  which  meant  much,  and  Six  Toes, 
leaping  to  the  porthole,  saw  it  all.  He  rushed  to  the  cave 
entrance,  I  at  his  heels. 

It  was  a  close  finish  —  there  could  be  no  doubt  of  that. 
Wolf's  final  swift  rush  told  as  they  neared  the  cave,  as 


76  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

with  outstretched  hand  he  almost  succeeded  in  clutching 
the  fleeing  girl  as  she  dived  into  the  opening  of  the  cave. 
Six  Toes  caught  her  in  his  arms  as  she  came,  and  I  sent 
an  arrow  whistling  outward,  but  Six  Toes  was  in  my  way 
and  Wolf  leaped  aside  unhurt.  Then  came  a  few  mo- 
me"nts'  pause.  Laugh  was  safe  within  the  cave.  Wolf  and 
his  followers,  who  had  by  this  time  joined  him,  were  gath 
ered  just  aside  from  the  entrance  in  noisy  council.  We 
waited  alert  and  hungrily,  for  we  knew  that  our  time  of 
vengeance  was  at  hand,  I  guarding  the  cave  opening,  Six 
Toes  at  the  porthole  on  the  left. 

As  they  conferred  excitedly  the  party  of  Wolf  moved 
farther  to  the  side  and  I  crept  nearer  and  nearer  to  the 
mouth  of  the  cave.  I  knew  there  would  be  happenings. 
Then  I  heard  the  voices  moving  more  to  the  side  and  ran 
back  into  the  cave  again  and  looked  over  Six  Toes'  shoul 
der.  Suddenly  the  men  outside  moved  again,  and  there, 
now  they  stood,  not  six  yards  from  the  point  of  Six  Toes' 
arrow,  Wolf,  with  his  broad  back  to  it,  waving  his  arms 
and  commanding  violently.  Never  was  fairer  mark 
offered  a  Cave  man  and  never  a  deadly  opportunity 
seized  upon  more  eagerly.  Slowly  Six  Toes  drew  the 
long  shaft  backward  until  the  stone  head  touched  the 
great  bow,  which  creaked  and  groaned  beneath  the  strain; 
then  he  released  it ! 

There  was  a  tearing  thud;  Wolf  threw  up  his  hands  and 
stood  wavering  there  with  a  short  length  of  the  knotted 
wood  jutting  from  his  back.  For  a  moment  he  swayed 
and  trembled,  and  then  pitched  forward  as  dead  as  the 
deer  and  the  little  wild  horse  stored  beside  us  in  the  cave. 
With  a  yell  of  terror  his  followers  started  up  the  valley 


THE  CLANSMEN  77 

and  I  bounded  out  from  the  cave  and  sent  an  arrow  after 
them  as  they  ran.  I  could  hear  the  "thut"  and  one  of 
them  began  to  run  waveringly  and  laggardly.  It  was  a 
fine  shot. 

It  was  good  to  see  Laugh  eat.  Little  cared  she  what  we 
were  doing.  The  smell  of  roasted  meat  had  assailed  her, 
and  she  was  gnawing  greedily  at  a  bone  with  cooked  flesh 
still  upon  it  as  we  turned  to  look  upon  her,  still  flushed 
from  the  race.  She  looked  up  at  Six  Toes  and  laughed 
happily.  Then  he,  too,  laughed  and  sat  down  beside 
her.  They  were  mated  now,  and  were  content. 

So,  for  a  few  days,  there  were  no  happenings  of  note. 
Six  Toes  and  Laugh  were  cheerful  in  their  end  of  the  cave, 
and  I  only  less  so  in  a  little  alcove  at  the  side  where  I 
slept  now  dreamlessly.  Laugh  helped  in  the  skinning 
of  the  game.  We  brought  and  cooked  the  flesh  and  kept 
ever  a  sharp  lookout  up  and  down  the  valley.  Did  Laugh 
become  lax  in  any  of  her  duties,  Six  Toes,  as  a  husband 
should,  admonished  her  with  a  strip  of  hide,  but  she  rarely 
needed  such  correction,  and  his  strokes  were  light,  for 
were  they  not  newly  wed?  I  alone  became,  finally,  some 
what  restless.  I  felt  that  there  was  more  to  come,  not 
that  I  feared  it,  but  I  was  curious.  The  half-freezing 
tribe  would  soon  be  heard  from. 

We  had  not  long  to  wait.  Following  the  death  of  Wolf 
there  had  been  much  debate  in  the  great  cave.  Evidently 
Six  Toes  was  a  wizard,  and  evidently  a  great  wizard  was  a 
good  thing  for  a  clan  to  have.  Besides,  Six  Toes  was  a 
famous  hunter  and  a  man  of  might,  and  why  not  yield 
to  him? 

They  came,  one  day,  a  straggling  group,  including  even 


78  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

the  older  men,  and  I,  who  guessed  their  mission  as  I  saw 
them  in  the  distance,  conferred  swiftly  with  Six  Toes  and 
advised  him  earnestly.  They  halted  at  a  distance  from 
the  cave  and  yelled  forth  the  nature  of  their  visit  and  then, 
assured  of  safety,  laid  down  their  weapons  and  came 
forward.  Six  Toes,  I  standing  beside  him,  received  them 
somewhat  gruffly.  They  said  that  they  were  cold  and 
that  he  could  make  fire  for  them;  as  they  were  leaderless, 
too,  would  he  not  return  to  them? 

Six  Toes  was  stern  but  not  unfriendjy.  He  said  that 
they  were  right.  He  was  a  wizard  and  could  make  fire. 
They  were  leaderless,  because  he  had  slain  Wolf.  He 
could  slay  others.  He  had  been  driven  forth  from  the 
band,  he  and  his  brother  Scar,  but  he  would  not  remain 
angry  with  them  if  they  would  take  him  as  a  wizard  and 
as  the  head  of  the  clan  and  so  obey  him.  If  they  dis 
obeyed,  well,  he  could  burn  all  enemies.  The  sun  was 
shining  and  he  drew  forth  the  fire-stone  from  his  pouch  and 
set  into  flame  the  bundle  of  dry  reeds  I  brought.  The 
sight  startled  and  appalled  them,  and  some  of  the  old  men 
even  grovelled  at  his  feet.  All  yielded  wildly  and  blindly 
and,  the  young  men  carrying  our  belongings,  Six  Toes 
and  Laugh  and  I  in  the  lead,  we  took  our  way  to  the  great 
cave  of  many  galleries  where  the  remainder  %of  the  band 
received  us  with  mingled  fear  and  joy.  Then  Six  Toes 
made  fire  outside  and  lighted  from  it,  other  fires  soon 
blazed  within  the  great  cave's  chambers,  and  meat  was 
roasting  everywhere,  and  there  were  warmth  and  feasting 
and  rejoicing. 

There  were  hosts  of  wild  things  for  the  hunting,  the 
band  had  stores  of  nuts  and  roots,  there  were  fire  and 


THE  CLANSMEN  79 

warmth,  and  the  winter  passed  in  comfort  for  the  Cave 
man.  There  came  the  spring  and  summer  and  the  brown 
autumn,  and  in  all  our  wanderings  with  Six  Toes  at  our 
head  we  had  fire  at  need,  and  the  clan  flourished  beyond 
the  ordinary  lot  of  the  wild  man  of  that  time.  Next  to 
Six  Toes,  I  was  the  strongest  and  starkest  man  among 
them,  and  it  came  to  me  that,  like  him,  I  would  take  a  wife. 
There  was  a  girl,  Black  Eye  they  called  her,  who  was  most 
holding  of  desire  to  look  upon.  She  I  resolved  to  take, 
and  I  knew,  from  the  looks  she  sometimes  gave  me,  that 
she  would  come  willingly.  I  was  content  in  those  days. 

None  other  of  all  the  band  was  so  soft  of  foot  as  I  when 
need  came.  I  could  thread  the  wood  without  the  crack 
ling  of  a  twig.  I  could  creep  as  silently  as  the  forest  cats 
which  caught  the  birds  upon  the  ground;  I  could  steal  so 
close  to  any  creature  that,  if  it  saw  me  not,  nor  smelled 
me,  I  could  come  to  stand  beside  it  and  impale  it  with  a 
close  driven  arrow  or  even  with  my  spear.  So  I  wanted 
no  clumsy-footed  companion  with  me  to  mar  the  outcome 
when  I  hunted,  and,  save  when  we  sought  the  fiercer 
creatures,  rarely  went  forth  other  than  alone. 

One  day  it  chanced  that  I  was  creeping  upon  a  flock  of 
ptarmigan  feeding  in  a  thicket  where  were  many  berries. 
Already,  in  another  place  I  had  killed  a  number  of  them, 
and  cared  little  whether  I  shot  more  of  them  or  not. 
Glancing  about  as  I  so  crept  along,  I  saw  what  interested 
me.  Upon  one  of  the  bushes  with  a  foliage  darkly  green 
hung  great  clusters  of  berries  not  scarlet,  like  those  the 
birds  ate  and  which  we  ate  ourselves,  but  of  a  purple 
such  as  I  have  never  seen  before.  They  were  wonderful. 
Surely,  I  thought,  they  must  be  better  than  the  smaller 


80  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

red  things,  richer  and  more  luscious.  I  tasted  them  and 
found  them  sweet  and  musky  and  fragrant,  and,  yielding, 
I  gorged  myself  from  their  abundance,  and  then  lay  down 
upon  the  dry  grass  in  a  little  open  space,  to  rest  and  dream, 
and,  it  might  be,  sleep,  for  there  came  a  sort  of  languor 
over  me  and  sleep  seemed  good.  I  lay  there  dozing  when 
I  heard  a  fluttering  of  birds  about  me  and  reached  for 
my  bow  and  tried  to  rise,  but  could  not.  My  legs  re 
fused  to  aid  me  and  my  arms  seemed  heavy.  There  came 
a  doubt  upon  me.  We  had  learned  that  there  were  poison 
things,  though  never  had  I  known  them  in  this  region, 
and  surely  berries  so  luscious  could  not  be  harmful.  But 
I  cared  not.  I  seemed  in  another  world.  What  to  me 
that  fruit  I  had  eaten  was  of  the  deadly  things? 

I  lay  there  helpless,  but  in  no  pain.  The  drowsiness 
which  deepened  brought  curious  scenes  and  fancies.  Then 
the  visions  dimmed  and  I  drifted  deeper  into  the  sleep 
from  which  I  might  not  waken.  Steadily  all  faded.  It 
was  done.  Not  for  me  was  it  to  hunt  or  fight  with  Six 
Toes  to  the  end.  Not  for  me  to  take  my  mate  and  live 
the  full  Cave  man's  life;  not  for  me  to  be  with  the  brave 
clan  as  it  waxed  in  numbers  and  in  strength  until  it  be 
came  the  greatest  in  all  that  changing  region  of  what 
men  call  the  Dardogne  Valley,  where  our  spear  and  arrow 
heads  are  sometimes  dug  from  deep  in  the  earth,  and 
where  little  children  prattle  in  the  vineyards. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  BOATMEN 

WEN  it  is  warm  there  is  no  sound  sweeter  to  me 
ban  the  sound  of  splashing  water.  It  was  such 
a  sound  that  came  to  my  ears  as  I  awoke  from 
my  sleep  on  a  little  leaf -covered  mound,  beneath  the  boughs 
of  a  thicket-surrounded  beech  tree  on  a  gently  sloping 
and  wooded  hillside.  I  knew  that  near  me  a  brook  came 
hurrying  down  the  slope,  and  that  it  was  its  rejoicing  that 
I  heard  as  it  tumbled  in  little  cataracts  along  its  stony 
bed.  It  had  worn  the  stone  for  centuries,  and  had  ac 
complished  much  on  its  way  to  the  deep  waters  of  which 
it  was  in  search;  but  of  such  matter  of  course  I  did  not 
think  as  I  opened  my  eyes  and  realized  what  were  my 
surroundings.  I  knew  that  I  was  content  and  sound  and 
full  of  vigour,  though  only  half  awake  as  yet,  but  somehow 
I  was  puzzled.  Of  what  had  I  been  dreaming,  and  which 
was  the  real,  and  which  the  unreal?  I  seemed  at  home 
where  I  was,  and  yet  it  seemed  but  an  hour  ago  that  there 
were  birds, —  birds  which  were  good  to  eat,  about  me,  and 
that  there  were  sweet  berries,  and  that  I  had  eaten  them, 
and  then  had  gone  to  sleep.  But  there  were  no  birds 
about  me  now,  and  there  were  no  berry  bushes.  The  beech 
tree  was  familiar,  and  so  were  the  singing  and  laughing 
of  the  water.  I  was  in  my  own  place  and  well.  What 
foolish  things  are  dreams ! 

81 


82  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

There  came  a  long  call,  —  "Co-ee!  coo-ee!"  —  from  a 
distance  below  me,  and  the  sound  was  most  familiar.  It 
was  the  call  of  Droopeye,  close  friend  and  companion  of 
mine,  though  not,  it  may  be,  so  near  to  me  as  Thin  Legs 
the  wise  one,  upon  whom  I  relied  concerning  many  things 
of  which  I  was  in  doubt.  But  I  cared  much  for  the  merry 
Droopeye,  who  made  one  forget  the  heavy  thoughts 
which  would  come  at  times,  and  we  were  often  together 
in  our  hunting  or  any  other  of  the  journeys  made  by  us, 
the  men  of  the  water  caves. 

I  was  glad  to  hear  the  summons  of  Droopeye  —  he  was 
called  so  because  he  had  had  a  hurt  in  his  youth  such  that 
one  eyelid  drooped,  and  gave  him  an  odd  look  —  since 
there  had  come  to  me  strange  dreams  as  I  slept  there  be 
side  the  brook  which  tumbled  down  the  hillside  into  the 
lake.  I  wonder  why  it  is  that  I  have  always  had  strange 
dreams?  Queer  and  singular  they  have  been,  not  like 
those  dreamed  by  my  tribesmen,  as  they  have  told  them 
to  me.  They  dream  of  the  hunt  or  the  fishing  or  of  the 
men  and  women  among  us;  but  I  do  not  dream  of  such 
things.  My  dreams  are  such  as  I  cannot  understand;  for 
they  are  of  places  and  people  and  ways  ever  different  from 
what  is  all  about  me,  of  men  and  women  and  lands  and 
beasts  I  have  never  seen,  of  countries  of  hot  sands  and 
mighty  deserts,  or  deep,  steaming  jungles,  or  cold  lands 
of  ice  and  snow,  or  of  mighty  forests  where  were  no  men 
at  all,  but  only  fierce,  wild  creatures  upon  the  ground,  and 
in  the  treetops  other  creatures  looking  somewhat  like  men 
indeed,  but  living  in  lofty  nests,  and  ever  fearful  of  the 
beasts  below.  I  do  not  understand  these  dreams,  and 
they  make  me  wonder,  with  almost  a  little  fear.  Before 


THE  BOATMEN  83 

the  call  of  Droopeye  I  had  dreamed  of  a  far  land  of  caves 
and  people  somewhat  like  our  own,  it  is  true,  but  with 
ruder  spears  and  bows  and  arrows,  and  with  some  trouble 
in  the  making  of  fire,  which  has  become  to  us  so  easy. 
And  it  seemed  to  me,  too,  that  in  my  dreams  I  had  my 
self  been  in  some  great  peril,  but  I  remembered  it  only 
dimly. 

So,  when  I  awoke  to  the  call  of  Droopeye,  I  answered 
lustily  and  leaped  to  my  feet,  and  met  him  as  he  came 
running  up  the  slope  from  the  shining  water.  He  held 
in  his  hand  a  wonderfully  bright  shell,  which  he  had 
found  upon  the  shore,  and  which  he  showed  to  me  laugh 
ingly. 

It  is  hard  to  say  why  I,  so  different  in  all  my  ways, 
should  care  at  all  for  the  companionship  of  such  a  man  as 
Droopeye,  who  was  not  the  best  aid  in  the  hunt,  and  who 
could  not  run  as  fast  or  far  as  I,  nor  send  an  arrow  from 
his  bow  so  surely  and  so  strongly.  But  I  liked  to  have 
him  with  me,  to  hear  his  merry  words,  often,  it  seemed  to 
me,  not  at  all  unwise,  and  to  laugh  at  his  shots,  when,  as 
he  often  did,  he  missed  the  little  standing  deer  upon  which 
he  had  crept  unseen,  or  the  great  bustard  which  offered  so 
fair  a  mark.  Surely  a  poor  bowman  was  Droopeye, 
though  a  good  fisherman,  and  knowing  as  to  all  the  roots 
and  fruits  and  berries  which  were  fit  for  eating.  So  I 
liked  to  have  him  with  me  in  the  forest  or  in  the  hills, 
despite  his  uselessness  in  the  hunt,  and  cared  for  him  as  I 
have  seen  some  great  wild  beast  endure  and  seem  to  care 
for  a  lesser  one  about  him.  Ever  ready  was  Droopeye 
to  build  the  fire  with  the  hard  pointed  stick  twisted  with 
the  bowstring  into  the  dried,  punky  wood,  and  he  was 


84  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

ready  in  the  skinning  and  in  carrying  his  burden  of  what 
ever  might  be  our  spoil  to  the  distant  camp. 

It  was  Droopeye  who  first  learned  to  make  sounds  upon 
stretched  skins,  which  drew  to  him  the  younger  men  and 
the  girls,  and  made  them  utter  odd  singing  noises,  and 
want  to  skip  about.  Very  curious  was  this  thing.  We  had 
been  at  work  upon  the  skin  of  a  groundhog,  one  time, 
scraping  it  clean  of  all  flesh,  and  making  it  fit  for  use  as 
some  sort  of  pouch,  and  when  we  had  done  this  Droopeye 
stretched  it  across  the  end  of  a  short  hollow  length  of  log 
which  chanced  to  be  lying  near  his  hut,  that  it  might  dry 
there  flat  and  firm  until  he  should  take  it  off  to  knead  and 
stretch  into  softness,  as  was  the  way.  It  was  pinned  tightly 
with  strong  thorns  driven  through  its  edge  into  the 
wood,  and  there  it  dried,  flat  and  taut  and  firm.  Then, 
one  day,  when  I  was  with  him,  Droopeye  remembered  the 
skin  he  had  left  out  in  the  sun  to  dry  so,  and  brought  it 
to  the  entrance  of  the  hut,  where  he  took  a  seat  beside 
me,  preparing  to  pull  out  the  thorns,  and  make  the  skin 
soft  again  by  kneading.  We  were  talking,  and  he  forgot 
for  the  time  about  the  skin,  playing  with  a  short,  hard 
stick  he  had  chanced  to  pick  up  as  we  talked.  At  last  he 
lifted  the  short  length  of  log  —  it  was  light  and  thin  and 
very  dry  —  and,  in  idleness,  hit  the  skin  a  smart  blow  with 
the  stick  he  held.  The  sound  made  us  both  leap  to  our 
feet,  it  was  so  loud  and  odd  and  booming  in  a  queer  way. 
Again  and  again  did  Droopeye  hit  the  skin,  and  each  time 
came  the  booming  sound,  and  others  came  running  to  see 
what  it  was. 

"I  will  not  take  off  the  skin,"  said  Droopeye  then.  "I 
will  keep  the  sounding  thing  to  play  with." 


THE  BOATMEN  85 

And  this  he  did;  and  it  came,  at  last,  that  he  fastened 
a  skin  across  the  other  end  of  the  little  dried  hollow  log, 
and  the  booming  was  increased,  and  a  great  thing  finally 
came  of  this,  for,  in  time,  a  bigger  length  of  hollow  log  was 
taken,  and  chipped  and  scraped  smooth  inside  and  out 
side,  and  when  other  skin  was  stretched  and  fastened 
tightly  across  the  ends,  and  the  thing  was  beaten,  the 
booming  drumming  could  be  heard  from  afar,  and  we  had 
a  means  of  summons  for  all  the  tribe  should  any  time  of 
peril  come. 

But  the  sounding  upon  the  skin  was  not  all  that  came  of 
this  queer  discovery  of  Droopeye.  It  so  pleased  him  that 
he  tried  stretching  more  skins  across  hollow  things,  mak 
ing  still  different  sounds,  and  other  sound-making  things 
he  tried.  Finally  he  stretched  a  bowstring  of  sinew  above 
the  half  of  a  great  dried  wild  gourd  upon  which  a  skin  was 
stretched,  and  it  made  a  twanging  which  pleased  him 
much,  though  the  sound  was  not  at  all  like  that  of  the  beat 
ing  upon  the  drum. 

Then  to  Droopeye  came  another  fancy,  for  he  was  ever 
different  from  the  rest  of  the  tribe,  in  thinking  of  that 
which  might  be  strange  and  new.  There  was  a  boy  so 
pinched  of  face  that  he  was  called  the  Rat,  and  this  Rat 
was  so  charmed  by  the  noise  that  Droopeye  made  with 
his  new  things  that  he  was  hovering  about  constantly 
when  the  sounds  were  made.  Him  Droopeye  taught  to 
strum  upon  the  sinew  stretched  across  the  gourd,  and  soon 
they  would  make  the  new  and  strange  noises  together  and 
at  night  —  that  is,  in  the  early  night,  when  the  hunters 
and  others  had  returned  to  camp,  and  had  eaten  —  there 
would  always  be  a  swift  clustering  around  the  players, 


86  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

though  I  cannot  tell  why  this  was  so.  The  strumming 
noise  seemed  to  touch  the  feet  of  those  who  listened,  and 
they  moved  uneasily,  and  would  often  shout  when  the 
sounds  came  swiftly  and  regularly  together  in  some  way 
I  had  never  heard  before.  Very  odd  it  was  to  see  them 
thus  swaying  together,  sometimes  clapping  their  hands  as 
the  sounds  came,  and  at  last  they  would  caper  and  circle 
about,  stepping  as  came  the  sounds,  and  all  were  delighted 
with  it.  So  came  what  Droopeye  said  was  the  first  music, 
and,  whatever  it  may  be,  it  assuredly  was  marvellous. 

Such  a  merry  man  was  Droopeye,  whose  call  I  answered, 
and  with  whom  I  often  went  to  the  huts  and  caves  of  our 
little  village  by  the  lake  in  the  hills.  He  had  done  a  won 
derful  thing,  but  nothing  so  wonderful  as  that  which 
Thin  Legs  and  I  did,  and  which  proved  so  great  a  thing 
for  all  the  tribe. 

Never  before,  so  the  old  men  said,  had  the  Cave  people 
been  more  quiet  and  prosperous;  for  we  had  a  good  region 
in  which  to  live,  the  winters  were  not  so  white  and  hard 
as  they  were  in  the  times  of  which  the  old  men  say  their 
fathers'  forefathers  told,  and  there  were  fewer  of  the  great 
man-eating  wild  beasts.  Very  huge  and  dangerous  were 
these  beasts  once,  and  even  at  this  time  it  was  not  good 
to  meet  the  great  bear  or  the  tree  leopard,  or  the  wolf 
pack,  or  even  the  huge  lone  wolf  which  sometimes  crouches 
by  the  woodpaths  at  night,  and  springs  out  upon  and  tears 
the  throat  of  the  unwary.  Once  such  a  wolf  sprang  out 
upon  me;  but  I  throttled  him,  though  my  arms  were  torn, 
and  I  was  sick  and  weak  for  many  days.  The  teeth  of  the 
old  wolf  are  very  long;  but  I  am  strong,  and  my  grip  is 
crushing. 


THE  BOATMEN  87 

We  had  not  been  at  war  with  any  other  tribe  since  I  was 
a  youth,  and  we  had  not  been  driven  away  from  the  camp 
ing  place  by  the  great  floods  which  sometimes  came  in  the 
past  times,  and  so  we  had  thriven  here,  and  had  done  many 
things.  There  were  the  boat  and  the  barb! 

Very  well  do  I  remember  how  the  first  boat  came.  It 
was  after  a  great  storm,  before  which  I  had  been  hunting 
with  One  Ear  far  up  the  river  which  runs  to  the  sea,  and 
to  which  one  now  paddles  through  the  lake  from  which 
the  creek  runs  to  our  smaller  lake  about  which  were  our 
huts  and  caves.  The  water  had  come  in  a  vast  flood,  and 
had  caught  us  in  the  distant  valley,  and  we  had  climbed 
into  a  tree,  that  we  might  not  drown,  and  there  we 
crouched  and  clung  throughout  the  night.  When  morn 
ing  came  we  could  see  nothing  but  the  tops  of  other  trees 
and  the  great  waters.  We  were  weak  and  hungry.  We 
must  leave  the  tree  or  die;  and,  when  a  log  big  enough  to 
carry  us  both  came  closely  by,  we  dropped  down  upon  it 
together.  We  were  swept  into  the  deep  water,  and 
tossed  about  in  eddies,  and  tangled  and  delayed,  but  not 
for  a  very  long  time.  We  were  going  straight  toward  a 
little  island  I  knew  well,  though  only  its  bare  crest  now 
showed  above  the  waters. 

We  stranded  against  the  island's  shore,  and  crawled  up 
a  little  way,  and  rested,  lying  very  still,  for  there  was  lit 
tle  life  left  in  us.  At  last  I  rose  and  looked  about,  and 
then  I  shook  One  Ear  by  the  shoulder,  and  shouted  loudly. 
There  was  game  upon  the  little  island,  game  imprisoned 
by  the  flood.  There  were  hares,  a  score  of  them;  and  we 
slew  them  with  our  axes,  for  they  could  not  escape,  and 
fed  upon  them,  for  we  were  famished.  Then  we  slept,  and 


88  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

it  was  night  when  we  awoke.  We  were  hungry  still,  and 
ate  and  slept  again  until  the  morning  came. 

The  storm  was  ended,  but  not  the  flood.  We  could  see 
no  land  except  the  little  space  on  which  we  were,  and 
even  that  was  lessening.  What  should  we  do?  We  ate 
more  of  the  hare,  and  sat  down  upon  the  sand,  and  One 
Ear  became  sad,  and  howled  as  the  lone  wolf  sometimes 
does.  The  sound  was  not  good  to  me,  for  it  made  me 
sorrowful,  and  I  threw  my  axe  at  him,  but  did  not  hit 
him.  Nevertheless,  he  ceased  his  howling. 

It  was  mid-afternoon  when  I  saw  coming  down  the 
river  what  seemed  to  float  higher  on  the  water  than  did 
the  other  things.  As  it  neared  us,  I  recognized  it  as 
something  I  had  seen  before.  It  was  only  a  log,  but  it 
turned  up  at  the  ends,  and  rode  high  in  the  water,  because 
it  was  hollow  throughout  most  of  its  length,  and  nearly 
to  its  bottom. 

Often  had  I  seen  that  curious  log  in  my  hunting  far  up 
the  river,  and  well  I  understood  what  had  made  it  as  it 
was.  The  old  sycamore  which  had  stood  so  long  beside 
the  river  had  been  blown  down,  and  in  falling  had  struck 
an  uprearing  jagged  rock,  which  broke  it  in  two  not  far 
from  its  torn  stump.  This  part  of  the  trunk  rolled  aside 
a  little  way,  a  log  of  three  men's  length  and  not  straight, 
but  curved  upward  a  little  at  each  end,  for  the  tree  had 
grown  crookedly.  The  log  had  lain  there  long,  as  I  had 
seen  it,  and  become  dry  and  light,  and  the  middle,  on  its 
upper  side,  had  become  a  little  rotten  and  wormy.  Then 
came  the  great  crested  woodpecker,  the  bird  which  calls 
so  loudly,  who  hammered  and  bored  away  in  search  of 
grubs  until  he  had  left  there  a  furrow  of  dry  dust  and 


THE  BOATMEN  89 

chips.  The  big  pine  tree  which  stood  near  the  sycamore 
was  smitten  by  the  lightning,  and  sparks  from  its  flaming 
top  had  fallen  on  the  dust  on  the  log  left  by  the  wood 
pecker,  and  so  the  fire  upon  the  log  burned,  eating  its 
way  deeply  downward  and  extending  either  way.  It  had 
almost  reached  the  ends,  and  was  nearly  through  the 
sides  and  bottom  of  the  log,  when  a  torrent  of  rain  fell, 
and  there  was  no  more  fire,  but  still  left  of  the  log  a  big 
charred  and  hollow  thing,  at  the  look  of  which  I  had  often 
wondered.  But  I  had  thought  it  worthless.  Of  what  use 
was  a  charred  and  hollow  log? 

It  floated  so  high  that,  as  it  grounded  on  the  beach  of 
the  little  island,  it  came  easily  within  reach  of  our  hands, 
and  we  pulled  it  ashore.  We  chattered  foolishly  over  it, 
and  then,  all  at  once,  to  each  if  us,  came  the  thought  that 
the  thing  might  carry  us  more  easily  than  the  heavier  log 
which  had  brought  us  to  where  we  were.  We  must  leave 
the  island  or  starve.  There  were  no  more  hares.  We  put 
the  log  in  the  water  again,  and  I  held  it  by  an  end  while 
One  Ear  waded  out  and  got  astride  it.  Then  a  new 
thought  came  to  him,  and  he  lifted  his  legs  and  dropped 
squattingly  into  the  great  hollow  the  fire  had  made,  and 
looked  up  at  me,  and  cackled  excitedly.  The  log  floated, 
and  yet  he  was  away  from  the  water!  I  clambered  in  be 
side  him  with  a  shout,  the  current  caught  us  and  carried 
us  away,  and  then  we  yelled  together  in  our  exultation. 
We  were  floating,  warm  and  dry,  and  resting.  We  would 
have  suffered,  clinging  desperately  to  the  log,  with  our 
bodies  in  the  chill  water,  and,  it  might  be,  fallen  off  and 
drowned.  It  was  wonderful!  Never  had  men  floated 
thus  before,  and  we  were  great  men  indeed!  Swiftly  we 


90  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

were  carried  toward  the  promontory  afar  down  where  were 
the  caves  where  we  and  our  people  dwelt.  Close  in,  just 
at  nightfall,  the  current  swayed  us,  and  we  leaped  out  as 
we  reached  the  shallows,  and  dragged  our  prize  ashore, 
while  the  clan  gathered  about  us,  all  chattering  and  won 
dering.  We  had  what  we  came  to  call  a  Boat ! 

We  ate  much  and  slept  soundly,  after  this  our  great 
peril  and  great  discovery.  In  the  morning  followed  an 
other  gathering  of  the  Cave  people  about  the  strange  thing 
which  could  carry  men  safely  upon  the  water;  and  he  who 
could  draw  pictures  of  wild  creatures  on  the  rocks,  and 
who  could  chip  spear-heads  most  wisely  of  us  all,  was  the 
one  who  looked  upon  the  fire-hollowed  log  longest  and 
most  earnestly,  though  he  at  first  was  silent.  Then  finally 
he  came  to  me.  A  boat  seemed  to  be  a  good  thing.  Why 
not  have  another  boat?  What  fire  had  done,  fire  could  do ! 

Not  far  from  the  caves,  and  close  by  the  shore  of  the 
currentless  lagoon  which  reached  in  from  the  river,  lay 
the  trunk  of  a  large  fallen  tree.  Our  stone  axes  were 
good,  so  Thin  Legs  said,  but  might  not  suffice  to  make  a 
boat  like  that  brought  by  One  Ear  and  me;  but  surely  we 
could  in  time  hack  off  a  log,  and  then  make  the  fire  which 
warmed  us  and  cooked  our  food  do  the  rest.  So  we  fell 
to  work  eagerly,  all  the  strong  men  of  the  clan  coming  to 
aid  in  turn.  It  was  long  work  and  wearing,  and  there 
were  tired  arms  and  blistered  hands,  but  within  two  days 
the  log  was  hacked  away  from  the  trunk  of  the  fallen  big 
tree,  and  then  Thin  Legs  alone  took  leadership,  and  fire 
was  brought. 

Very  wise  is  Thin  Legs.  None  of  the  rest  of  us  can 
think  as  he  does;  none  of  us  can  so  tell  what  is  going  to 


"With   long   poles  thrust  to  the  bottom,  we   guided 
the  boats  here  and  there  about  the  shallow  waters.'* 


THE  BOATMEN  91 

happen  after  you  have  done  things.  Now  he  rested  a 
little.  Upon  the  top  of  the  great  log  we  had  cut  away  he 
built  a  little  fire,  and  supplied  it  with  dry  fuel  as  it  ate 
its  way  into  the  wood.  When  it  threatened  to  reach  too 
far  toward  the  end  or  sides,  he  dammed  it  with  wet  mud, 
and  so  made  it  eat  this  way  or  that  way,  as  he  would  have 
it,  until  of  the  huge  log  there  remained  but  a  thing  hol 
lowed  and  charred,  with  thin,  strong  sides  and  bottom. 
We  pushed  it  into  the  water,  and  it  floated  high,  carrying 
half  a  score  of  us  at  once.  So  came  the  first  man-made 
boat.  Now  we  could  fish  throughout  the  whole  lagoon! 

With  long  poles  thrust  to  the  bottom,  we  guided  the 
boats  here  and  there  about  the  shallow  waters,  and  had 
better  fortune  than  ever  before,  spearing  the  fish  at  all 
their  feeding  places.  Sometimes,  too,  we  would  guide  the 
boats  into  the  depths  of  the  wild  rice  which  grew  in  the 
water,  and  lie  in  wait  there  for  the  water-fowl  which  came 
at  night.  So  our  fortunes  were  bettered. 

It  was  a  wonderful  boat,  one  we  could  pole  through  the 
water  far  more  swiftly  than  we  could  the  other,  and  it 
seemed  as  if  there  could  be  nothing  better.  But  we  did 
not  know.  Not  a  great  time  passed  when  a  strange  thing 
happened.  It  was  that  I  saw  foolish  boys  make  the  clumsy 
boat  we  had  before  move  in  the  water  without  a  pole. 
We  could  make  a  boat  move  in  the  water  only  when  we 
thrust  down  a  pole  to  the  bottom,  and  leaned  against  it 
and  pushed;  but  the  idle  boys,  playing  in  the  one  lying  by 
the  bank  in  the  still  lagoon,  began  pulling  a  flat  stick 
through  the  water  beside  them,  and  the  boat  moved  out, 
and  then  they  were  afraid,  and  yelled  loudly,  for  they 
could  not  get  back  to  shore.  We  got  them  back,  poling 


92  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

with  the  only  other  boat  we  had.  It  was  all  most  foolish, 
but  I  wondered.  I  saw  the  boys  pull  the  flat  stick  through 
the  water,  and  saw  the  boat  move.  I,  myself,  saw  it. 
After  that,  I  sought  the  flat  stick  the  boys  had  used,  and 
looked  upon  it  and  all  over  it  carefully.  It  was  just  as 
any  other  flat  stick. 

When  all  were  gone  into  the  caves  or  the  wood  I  took 
the  stick  and  got  into  the  boat  myself;  but  I  carried  the 
pole  with  me,  and  laid  it  in  the  boat,  lest  without  it  I 
could  not  get  back  to  shore.  Then  I  took  the  flat  stick, 
and  thrust  it  into  the  water,  and  pulled  backward  with  it, 
first  on  one  side  of  the  boat  and  then  the  other,  as  we  used 
our  pole,  and  again  the  strange  thing  happened,  for  the  boat 
moved  on  the  water  as  it  had  done  with  the  boys !  Farther 
and  farther  it  went  from  the  land,  and  I  took  up  the  pole 
with  which  to  push  myself  back,  but  it  would  not  reach  bot 
tom.  The  flat  stick  had  carried  me  too  far.  I  was  fright 
ened.  I  knew  not  what  to  do.  I  yelled,  but  there  was 
no  one  to  hear  me.  I  was  afraid  of  the  water. 

Then,  in  my  desperation,  I  took  the  flat  stick  again, 
and  pulled  with  it  in  the  water,  and  the  boat  went  farther, 
and  soon,  as  I  looked  about,  I  saw  that  I  was  close  to  the 
wood  on  the  other  side  of  the  lagoon.  I  pulled  with  the 
flat  stick  again,  and  the  boat  touched  land  again,  and  I 
climbed  out  and  lay  down  upon  the  ground. 

Long  I  thought.  Could  the  flat  stick  make  the  boat 
go  back?  I  would  try.  I  clambered  into  the  boat,  and 
turned  it  about  with  the  pole,  so  that  it  pointed  toward 
the  other  shore,  and  then  took  the  stick  and  pulled  with 
it  in  the  water  again,  and  was  carried  back  to  very  nearly 
the  place  from  which  I  had  started.  I  sprang  upon  the 


THE  BOATMEN  93 

bank,  and  yelled  and  leaped  up  and  down.  I  wonder  why 
it  is  that  men  always  dance  up  and  down  and  yell  when 
they  are  happy?  The  other  creatures  do  not  act  in  that 
foolish  way. 

So  I  danced  and  whooped,  and  then,  finally,  I  became 
tired.  But  I  was  the  greatest  man  in  the  tribe.  I  alone 
had  the  flat  stick,  and  none  should  take  it  from  me.  There 
was  another  flat  stick  lying  on  the  shore,  and  I  took  it  up 
in  sport,  and  got  into  the  boat  with  it,  laughing,  because 
I  knew  it  would  not  make  the  boat  move.  I  was  wrong. 
I  pulled  with  it  as  I  had  with  the  other,  and,  behold !  the 
boat  moved  as  it  had  done  before!  Other  flat  sticks  I 
took  then,  and  pulled  with  them,  and  the  boat  obeyed 
them  all.  Any  flat  stick  would  move  the  boat,  if  it  were 
only  to  be  pulled  with  the  flat  side  against  the  water.  I 
was  no  richer  than  any  other  man  of  the  tribe.  Then  I 
tried  to  move  the  boat  with  round  sticks  —  many  of  them 
—  but  it  lay  still.  The  sticks  simply  glided  through  the 
water,  and  the  boat  would  not  heed  them. 

I  shouted  again,  still  more  loudly,  because  I  wanted  to 
tell  about  the  flat  stick,  and  Thin  Legs  came  running  from 
the  wood  where  he  had  been  gathering  nuts  and  roots. 
No  game  had  he,  for  Thin  Legs  does  not  often  hunt, 
though  he  alone  can  chip  the  best  arrow-heads  and  spear 
heads.  I  told  him  of  the  wonderful  flat  stick,  and  all  it 
had  done,  and  there  came  the  thinking  look  in  his  eyes 
which  I  do  not  understand,  and  then  he  tried  the  flat 
stick  himself  in  the  boat,  and  then  climbed  ashore  and 
leaped  and  shouted  almost  as  wildly  as  I  had  done.  After 
a  time  he  sat  down  upon  a  little  rock,  and  sat  there  long, 
saying  no  word,  holding  the  flat  stick  in  his  hand,  and 


94  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

looking  at  it.  He  could  think  long.  It  did  not  hurt  his 
head  as  it  did  mine,  and  the  heads  of  others  of  the  Cave 
men,  if  we  thought  too  much.  Then  we  went  to  the  caves 
together.  Thin  Legs  carried  with  him  the  flat  stick,  but 
he  said  nothing. 

When  I  left  the  cave  the  next  morning  the  big  yellow 
thing  that  makes  the  light  had  not  yet  come  up  above  the 
great  forest  to  the  east.  I  could  not  wait.  I  was  too 
eager  to  try  to  go  upon  the  water  again  with  a  flat  stick 
to  move  the  boat.  I  ate  but  a  mouthful  or  two  of  the 
flesh  of  the  little  deer  I  had  killed  in  the  ravine  in  the 
hills,  and  then  I  ran  to  where  were  the  boat  and  the  flat 
sticks.  I  took  my  bow  and  arrows  with  me.  I  would 
get  across  the  lagoon,  and  go  into  the  beech  wood  where 
many  birds  fed  on  the  nuts,  and  where  it  was  good  hunting. 
There  was  no  boat  there!  Then  there  came  to  my  ears 
a  yell  from  the  other  shore. 

I  called  aloud  in  answer,  and  from  the  shadow  of  the 
distant  bushes  across  the  water  came  out  the  boat  with 
Thin  Legs  kneeling  in  it,  and  digging  the  water,  as  it 
seemed,  with  a  flat  stick  again,  and  the  boat  was  coming 
toward  me.  But  far  more  swiftly  and  straight  it  came 
than  it  had  done  the  day  before,  and  I  knew  in  a  moment 
that  Thin  Legs,  the  wise,  had  been  at  work  in  the  night, 
at  work  by  his  fire  in  the  cave,  and  that,  somehow,  he  had 
given  more  strength  to  the  flat  stick. 

It  was  the  same  flat  stick  at  one  end,  but  not  at  the 
other.  The  day  before  it  had  been  hard  to  grasp  and  hold, 
because  it  was  so  broad,  and  I  could  not  get  my  fingers 
round  it.  I  could  hold  it  only  with  a  hard  clutch,  press 
ing  on  each  side,  and  so  could  not  pull  it  through  the 


THE  BOATMEN  95 

water  without  a  strain.  Now  it  was  another  kind  of 
stick.  All  night  long  Thin  Legs  had  worked  with  his 
stone  hatchet  and  with  his  knife.  For  what  would  be  the 
length  from  a  man's  foot  to  his  knee  he  had  chopped  and 
chipped  on  each  side  of  the  wood  until  there  was  left 
something  that  could  be  clasped  easily  in  the  hand,  and 
this  part  he  had  cut  and  scraped  until  it  was  round,  like 
a  spear-handle.  At  the  end  was  still  a  flat  stick  with 
which  a  man  could  pull  in  the  water  with  all  his  strength, 
grasping  the  round  handle  above.  No  man  had  seen  such 
a  stick  before,  and  I  spoke  not,  though  Thin  Legs  grinned. 

"  We  will  call  it  a  paddle  —  which  means  what  pulls," 
he  said,  and  grinned  again.  "  Get  into  the  boat." 

I  got  into  the  boat,  and  took  the  strange  stick,  and  dug 
it  into  the  water,  and  pulled  swiftly  with  all  my  might, 
and  the  boat  shot  away  as  do  some  of  the  swimming  birds 
upon  the  water;  for  now  I  had  my  grip  and  I  was  strong. 
I  went  to  the  other  shore,  and,  very  swiftly,  back  again. 
What  a  thing  had  we ! 

And  another  paddle  made  Thin  Legs,  so  that  we  each 
had  one,  and  day  by  day  we  learned  about  the  boat  and 
the  flat  stick,  until,  when  we  pulled  together,  we  went 
over  the  water  like  the  queer  clacking  water  bird  of  the 
rushes,  which  need  not  fly  from  danger,  so  swiftly  can  it 
swim. 

And  all  this  time,  in  the  day,  was  Thin  Legs  toiling 
upon  a  new  boat,  the  little  boat  for  us  two  alone,  which 
should  be  greater  than  the  boat  the  tribe  had  already 
made.  All  day  he  toiled,  chipping  with  his  stone  axe,  and 
burning  with  little  fires  covered  by  wet  clay,  that  the 
fire  might  not  reach  too  far,  and  each  night  I  brought 


96  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

him  food  —  nuts  and  berries  and  meat  —  for  I  was  as 
eager  about  the  boat  as  he.  And,  one  day,  Thin  Legs 
declared  the  boat  was  done. 

It  was  a  wonderful  boat!  Never  before  had  such  a 
boat  been  seen.  Not  great  in  size  was  it  —  only  the  length 
of  two  men,  and  but  broa,d  enough  for  one  —  and  each 
of  its  ends  was  pointed  like  the  other.  But  it  was  not 
that  which  made  the  boat  so  marvellous.  Long  and  pa 
tiently  had  Thin  Legs  laboured.  Much  had  he  chipped 
and  burned,  and  so  watchful  had  he  been  that  the  boat, 
smooth  on  the  outside  as  the  shell  of  the  river  turtle,  was 
itself  but  the  thinnest  shell,  alike  in  thickness  throughout 
every  part  of  the  tough  wood,  yet  as  strong  as  the  clumsy 
boats  we  had  already  made,  and  so  light  that  one  man 
alone  could  carry  it.  Even  Thin  Legs  found  it  not  too 
great  a  burden.  To  me,  Scar,  the  Strong  One,  it  was  as 
nothing.  Yet  this  shell  thing  could  easily  carry  the  two 
of  us  upon  the  water,  and  a  considerable  burden  besides. 
Very  wise  was  Thin  Legs. 

Wondering  were  the  other  Cave  men  when  we  put  our 
boat  in  the  lagoon  and  they  saw  how  great  indeed  it  was. 
Many  days  we  practised,  and  learned  to  paddle,  alone  or 
together,  and  to  turn  the  boat  this  way  or  that  as  we  willed. 
We  might,  we  thought,  even  venture  upon  the  deep  river,  but 
we  were  not  sure  of  that  yet.  Some  day,  though,  we  would 
make  the  venture;  though  far  down  the  river,  so  the  old 
men  said  their  fathers  had  told  them,  were  a  strange 
people,  who  lived  upon  the  shell-fish  they  dug  from  the 
sands  of  the  shores  and  who  were  very  fierce,  and  slew  all 
strangers,  though  they  had  no  bows,  but  only  spears  and 
axes  and  stone  knives.  Of  all  these  things  Thin  Legs  and 


THE  BOATMEN  97 

I  talked  much,  but  we  had  no  thought  of  going  upon  the 
deep  river  at  this  time. 

For  a  long  time  we  used  the  boat,  going  where  we 
would  in  the  lagoon,  and  spearing  the  fish,  though  many 
we  lost,  because  our  spears  would  not  hold  them  well;  and 
great  hunting  had  I  in  the  beech  and  oak  woods  on  the 
farther  side,  which  we  could  not  reach  so  easily  before, 
and  where  the  bush  birds,  and  the  cock  that  struts  and 
calls,  and  all  the  creatures  that  feed  upon  the  nuts  and 
berries,  were  not  so  fearful  as  those  on  the  side  of  the  la 
goon  where  were  the  caves,  because  they  had  not  been 
hunted  so  often.  Close  upon  these  creatures  I  would 
creep,  and  drive  my  arrows  through  them;  and  we  would 
come  back  to  the  caves  with  much  meat.  And  there  was 
none  among  the  hunters  who  matched  with  me,  Scar,  the 
strong  bowman.  Then  another  great  discovery. 

I  had  shot  and  killed  a  porcupine,  and  went  back  to  the 
caves  with  him  most  carelessly;  and  because  there  was 
more  than  I  could  eat  —  he  was  a  very  fat  porcupine  —  I 
called  to  Thin  Legs  to  come  and  cook  and  eat  him  with 
me.  I  was  careless,  and  one  of  the  spines,  the  things  upon 
the  back  of  the  porcupine,  slipped  into  my  thumb,  and  I 
could  not  pull  it  out  again  from  the  flesh  below  the  first 
joint.  Thin  Legs  tried  to  help  me  get  the  piece  of  porcu 
pine  out  of  my  hurt  thumb;  but  it  would  not  come  back, 
though  we  pulled,  and  it  hurt  me,  and  I  yelled.  Then 
suddenly  I  pushed  it  —  I  don't  know  why  I  pushed  it  — 
and  it  went  easily  and  smoothly.  Thin  Legs  took  hold 
of  the  other  end  of  it,  and  pulled  the  great  quill  through 
without  hurting  me  at  all. 

The  next  day  we  took  our  little  boat,  and  rowed  up  and 


98  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

down  all  around  the  edges  in  the  yellow,  shallow  water, 
and,  with  our  flint  spears,  speared  many  of  the  fishes;  but 
many  of  them  slid  off  —  not  all  of  them,  because  some 
times  we  used  to  toss  them  swiftly  into  our  boat  or  to  the 
bank.  But  the  most  of  them  slid  off;  and  though  we 
were  very  keen  of  eye  and  deft  of  hand,  Thin  Legs  and  I, 
we  never  got  the  half  of  them. 

But  something  came  into  my  mind  that  afternoon,  and 
I  looked  at  Thin  Legs  as  we  lost  fish  after  fish,  and  rowed 
to  the  shore  with  him,  and  sat  down  on  a  little  rock,  and 
then  I  asked  him  what  it  was  that  made  the  quills  of  the 
porcupine  hold  things  so. 

He  did  not  answer,  but  thought  a  little.  There  came 
the  distant  look  upon  his  face  again,  as  if  he  had  found 
something,  and  then,  with  a  shout,  he  leaped  up,  and  be 
gan  running  toward  the  cave.  I  paddled  back  with  the 
boat  and  fish,  but  I  did  not  see  Thin  Legs  again  that  day. 
He  was  working  in  his  cave,  and  would  allow  none  to 
enter  it.  In  the  morning  I  knew.  All  night  he  had 
worked,  and  he  had  chipped  the  heads  of  two  flint  spears 
so  that  they  were  barbed,  as  were  the  quills  of  the  porcu 
pine,  only  in  a  far  coarser  way.  Then  I  knew.  Never 
had  been  such  spear-heads  before,  nor  any  worth  so  much 
in  food-getting!  How  can  I  tell  the  story  of  the  Barb? 

We  went  to  the  lake  the  next  day  with  our  spears  —  for 
Thin  Legs  had  made  another  like  the  first  one  —  and  we 
rowed  in  our  boat  among  the  shallows,  and  there  came 
beneath  us  the  great  fish;  and  we  speared  them,  and  none 
of  them  slipped  away,  because  of  the  great  barbs  at  the 
side  of  our  flint  spears. 

Very  heavily  laden  was  our  boat,  for  it  was  full  of  fish 


THE  BOATMEN  99 

when  we  paddled  back  that  day,  and  very  rich  in  fishes 
were  we  now,  and  great  men  in  the  tribe  were  Thin  Legs 
and  I,  because  of  the  spears  which  held  the  fishes.  There 
would  soon  be  other  spears  —  very  many  of  them  —  like 
these  spears  that  Thin  Legs  and  I  had  made;  but  that 
does  not  matter.  After  this,  in  all  the  time  when  the 
winter  had  not  come,  there  would  be  fish  enough  to  eat 
in  the  caves.  So  Thin  Legs  and  I  were  very  proud  as  we 
strutted  along  the  narrow  pathway  below  the  caves  and 
close  to  the  water  where  the  frogs  croak  so  oddly  in  the 
weeds  of  the  sloping  bank.  The  boat  and  the  barb  were 
ours ! 

There  is  a  curious  white  fish,  very  tender  and  flaky, 
and  sweet  in  the  mouth,  which  gathers  in  schools  in  the 
big  river  just  above  where  the  swift  current  begins,  and 
it  came  to  me  that  I  might  go  among  them  with  tied  lines 
and  barbed  hooks  trailing  from  the  boat,  and  so  catch  at 
least  one  or  two  of  them.  I  wanted  Thin  Legs  to  go  with 
me,  but  he  declared  it  to  be  unsafe.  If  once  the  current 
got  hold  of  the  boat  too  strongly,  he  said,  it  would  be 
carried  down  the  river  and  over  the  falls  and  upon  the 
jagged  rocks  where  no  man  could  live;  but  I  only  laughed 
at  him,  and  said,  since  he  feared,  I  would  fish  alone.  I 
took  my  lines  with  me,  with  bait  for  the  barbed  hooks, 
and  tied  one  end  of  the  lines  about  my  waist,  letting  the 
hooks  float  in  the  water  far  behind.  When  I  heard  the 
roar  of  the  falls,  I  became  afraid,  and  wished  to  turn 
the  boat  to  row  back  with  the  floating  hooks;  but  I  found 
all  at  once  that  I  had  come  too  far.  As  I  strove  to  turn, 
the  fierce  current  caught  the  paddle,  and  exerted  its 
strength  against  me.  How  could  Thin  Legs  have  chanced 


100  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

upon  such  treacherous  wood?  The  paddle  snapped  short 
in  the  middle,  and  I  was  helpless  with  the  fragment  of 
the  handle  in  my  hand.  The  boat  whirled  round  in  the 
rushing  waters.  The  falls  roared  more  loudly.  There 
were  the  jagged  rocks  below,  and  certain  death  there.  I 
threw  myself  along  the  bottom  of  the  tossing  boat,  lest 
it  overturn  even  before  the  leap.  But  of  what  avail? 
There  was  only  death  below ! 

I  closed  my  eyes,  and,  with  a  roaring  of  the  waters  in 
my  ears,  shot  downward  toward  the  jagged  rocks,  and 
then  came  nothingness. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  SOWERS 

THE  hut,  which  was  made  of  poles  leaning  against 
the  perpendicular  side  of  the  rocky  height,  was 
cool  and  pleasant  to  lie  in  during  the  heat  of  the 
day.  It  was  mid-afternoon,  and  why  I  should  have  been 
sleeping  at  such  a  time  of  day  I  could  not  understand. 
Through  the  entrance  to  the  hut  I  could  look  across  the 
valley,  through  which  ran  a  shallow  little  river,  and  could 
see  huts  like  the  one  I  occupied  ranged  against  the  ex 
tending  wall  of  the  precipice,  and  people  moving  about. 
For  a  moment  or  two  I  was  lost  in  mind.  Surely  I  never 
had  seen  the  valley  and  the  huts  before.  I  dreamed  I  had 
been  somewhere  else  —  in  a  boat  tossing  madly  on  a  wild 
river.  But  soon  my  senses  returned.  I,  Scar,  the  Strong, 
was  in  my  own  hut,  and  with  my  own  people,  and  all  was 
well.  Where  was  Thin  Legs?  Where  was  our  boat? 
How  came  I  to  be  wearing  a  coat  of  deerskin,  and  how 
came  I  to  be  wearing  leggings  of  the  same  skin?  Always 
had  my  legs  been  bare.  Then  I  laughed;  for,  all  at  once, 
my  mind  came  back  to  me.  I  had  only  dreamed.  I  was 
in  my  own  hut,  in  the  village  of  my  clan,  than  which  there 
was  none  more  prosperous.  What  clan  had  better  homes 
or  better  bows  and  spears  and  axes  in  the  hands  of  better 
hunters  and  fisherman  living  near  the  broad  lake  which 
lay  between  the  rocky  hills  sloping  downward  to  the  plain 

101 


102  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

and  woods,  through  which  a  river  led  to  the  not-far-dis 
tant  sea?  The  water  of  the  lake  was  salt,  for  the  tides 
came  up  the  river  to  it;  and  there  were  many  fish  there, 
and  shell-fish,  where  the  wild  things  fed.  There  were  no 
people  who  excelled  us,  and  indeed  we  knew  of  no  other 
tribes,  save  one  living  far  to  the  south  and  another  which 
it  was  said  lived  still  farther  to  the  westward.  We  wTere 
a  satisfied  people,  remaining  long  in  one  place,  though 
sometimes,  in  the  summer,  we  abandoned  the  village  to 
the  women  and  children  and  old  men,  and  made  hunting 
trips  to  where  the  great  ox,  the  urus,  was  more  abundant 
than  nearer  us,  to  bring  home  the  dried  meat  to  make 
full  the  winter's  store.  Fish  from  the  lake  we  had,  and 
dried  them,  and  from  the  forest  the  women  brought  the 
wild  plums  and  a  sort  of  apple,  and  many  berries,  which 
also  were  dried,  and  which  we  ate  in  winter.  Also  the 
women  gathered  seeds  and  grains,  which  they  pounded 
into  a  coarse  meal,  between  smooth  stones,  and  this  they 
mixed  with  water  into  cakes,  and  made  that  which  was 
good  to  eat  with  the  meat  and  fish,  either  fresh  or  dried, 
as  in  the  winter-time,  when  the  game  might  have  drifted 
southward,  and  the  ice  was  thick  upon  the  lakes,  so  that 
the  hunting  and  fishing  were  not  easy,  and  starvation 
might  come  had  we  not  the  dried  things.  We  were  ordi 
narily  provident,  though,  for  Old  Bear,  the  head  of  the 
clan,  had  wisdom,  and  his  axe  was  heavy.  He  was  a  huge 
old  man,  heavy  of  aspect,  and  strong,  and  rarely  was  he 
disobeyed. 

I  became  more  thoroughly  awake,  and  rose  from  my 
bed  of  wolf -skins,  and  stretched  out  my  arms,  and  flexed 
my  muscles,  and  went  out  into  the  sunlight,  and  looked 


THE  SOWERS  103 

about  me.  I  was  hungry,  and  there  had  come  to  my  nos 
trils  the  odour  of  roasting  meat,  as  there  should  have  been 
that  of  fish  as  well.  I  knew  what  I  should  find.  There 
would  be  Limp,  who  lived  in  a  nearby  hut,  who  always 
rose  before  me,  and  prepared  the  food,  as  was  right, 
for  was  it  not  I  who  brought  in  all  save  the  fish,  for 
the  broken  and  shortened  leg  of  Limp  made  him  of  little 
use  in  the  hunt?  He  could  fish  well,  and  do  many  other 
things  better  than  the  rest  of  us.  I  have  heard  that  it 
has  been  always  the  way  with  men,  that  those  who  were 
crippled  have  been  deepest  of  thought  and  discovered 
most  of  the  new  things  that  have  been  good  for  us.  The 
old  men  tell  us  so.  And  in  almost  every  clan  there  are 
cripples;  for  there  are  dangers  all  about,  and  it  is  only 
natural  that  some  of  us  should  be  killed  or  at  least  maimed. 
Why  the  maimed  should  often  become  the  wisest,  I  do 
not  know.  Perhaps  it  is  because  they  have  more  time 
to  think,  and  so  conceive  of  new  things.  It  seems  to  me 
that  must  be  the  reason.  Limp,  my  closest  friend,  was 
full  of  dreams.  He  should  have  had  a  wife,  instead  of 
living  with  me,  who  cared  little  for  women;  but  the  woman 
he  sought  he  could  not  get.  I  was  sorry  for  Limp,  be 
cause  of  his  disappointment  over  the  woman  beyond  his 
reach,  and  told  him  so;  and  sorry  also  that  I  could  not 
aid  him,  and  so  he  had  to  endure  his  sorrow  nearly  alone, 
unless  it  may  be  that  he  had  the  sympathy  of  old  Ox,  and 
Feather,  his  wife,  whose  hut  was  up  the  ravine  a  little 
way  apart  from  the  village.  It  had  at  one  side  of  it  an 
open  swarded  space,  where  the  two  old  people  worked  to 
gether  in  the  sunshine,  he  fashioning  bows  and  arrows, 
and  she  attending  to  the  drying  of  the  fruits  and  berries 


104  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

she  had  gathered,  or  grinding  the  seeds  and  nuts.  Very 
wise  was  Feather  in  the  gathering  of  seeds.  She  knew 
where  grew  the  millet  and  the  wild  barley,  and,  old  as 
she  was,  gathered  more  of  those  seeds  for  the  winter  than 
did  any  other  woman  of  the  tribe,  though  of  nuts  and 
fruit  she  did  not  get  so  much,  because  she  was  too  old 
and  weak  to  climb.  So  she  sought  the  seeds,  though  the 
millet  and  barley  did  not  grow  in  abundance  anywhere, 
and  to  get  the  seeds  she  must  often  wander  far  and  search 
most  patiently.  It  was  pretty  to  see  the  old  man  and  the 
woman  working  together  in  the  sunshine  in  the  rock- 
surrounded  glade,  and  Limp  was  often  with  them;  for 
times  would  come  when  the  whole  village  was  abandoned, 
—  the  men  upon  the  hunt,  and  the  wTomen  and  children 
gathering  wood  or  fruits  and  nuts,  and  only  these  three 
would  be  left.  I  have  said  that  old  Feather  was  wise  — 
shrewd  she  was,  too  —  and  it  may  be  that  it  was  she  who, 
being  a  woman  and  old,  must  know  the  hearts  of  women, 
first  gave  to  Limp  the  idea  from  which  came  the  thing  he 
did  to  help  him  toward  Little  Toes,  the  woman  he  so 
desired. 

I  have  said  there  was  no  smell  of  fish  when  I  awoke. 
Great  fisherman  as  Limp  was,  we  had  fared  without  fish, 
and  I  had  threatened  him  with  my  unstrung  bow;  but 
he  only  laughed  and  cared  not,  for  he  knew  that  I  would 
not  strike  him.  For  days  he  had  been  absent,  and  I 
knew  not  where  he  had  been;  and  I  did  not  question  him, 
for  that  was  our  way.  The  hut  people,  save  in  light 
obedience  to  the  head  of  the  clan,  were  each  a  law  unto 
himself.  It  chanced,  though,  that  on  this  day  of  which  I 
tell,  after  I  had  eaten  and  again  threatened  Limp  because 


THE  SOWERS  105 

there  was  no  fish,  I  went  down  the  river  toward  a  forest 
near  the  lake,  and,  as  I  neared  it,  saw  Limp  walking  up 
and  down  the  shore,  and  stooping  often  to  pick  up  some 
thing  he  had  found.  I  ran  down  to  where  he  was  seeking, 
and  caught  him  by  the  shoulders,  and  shook  him,  and  then 
laughingly  he  told  me  what  he  had  been  doing. 

Ever,  Limp  said,  even  when  he  tried  to  sleep  at  night, 
there  was  the  vision  of  Little  Toes  before  him  —  Little 
Toes,  with  her  necklace  of  red  berries.  He  had  been  sad 
day  and  night  because  neither  the  father  nor  the  mother 
of  Little  Toes  wanted  to  give  her  to  such  as  he,  who  was 
lame,  and  could  only  fish,  and  furthermore  because  an 
other  man,  whom  they  favoured,  wanted  her.  Big  Bow, 
the  great  hunter,  was  wooing  her;  and  she  often  smiled 
upon  him. 

Big  Bow  had  cast  eyes  on  Little  Toes,  whose  father  and 
mother  were  old  and  lazy,  and  thought  he  could  buy  her 
by  gifts  of  meat  and  skins,  as  well  he  might;  but  the  good 
will  of  Little  Toes  herself  must  be  considered,  for  we  did 
not  seize  upon  the  women  we  bought,  as  was  once  the 
custom,  and  for  Little  Toes  there  were  other  suitors.  Limp, 
it  must  be  admitted,  was  not  very  fine  to  look  upon.  He 
could  talk  better  than  Big  Bow,  and  women  like  one  who 
can  talk;  but  he  could  not  bring  many  skins  or  much  meat, 
though  of  fish  he  brought  abundance.  But  people  cannot 
live  on  fish  alone.  It  seemed  that  Limp  had  little  chance, 
and  I,  his  friend,  was  sorry  for  him;  but  I  had  not  fully 
considered  his  shrewdness  and  his  ways. 

Ever  the  young  girls  sought  to  bedeck  themselves,  that 
they  might  be  fair  to  look  upon,  and  sometimes  they 
would  string  red  berries  upon  grass,  and  hang  the  loop 


106  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

about  the  neck,  and  it  was  a  pretty  thing  to  see.  It  could 
last  but  for  a  little  time,  but,  while  it  lasted,  it  was  glitter 
ing;  and  ever  Little  Toes  wore  such  a  necklace  and  much 
she  grieved  that  the  beautiful  thing  would  wither  so  soon 
into  hardness  and  dullness,  and  of  all  this  Limp  knew  well. 
So  it  came  that  he  conceived  a  thing  that  was  wondrous. 
He  told  me  of  what  he  had  done.  He  was  walking  beside 
the  lake  one  day,  black  of  mood,  thinking  of  Big  Bow,  and 
of  how  hard  his  chances  were  of  getting  the  woman  who 
seemed  so  fair  to  him.  It  was  as  he  walked  thus  —  as  he 
told  me  —  that  his  eyes  rested,  at  first  unseeing,  on  the 
shore's  margin,  where  the  creek  tumbled  into  the  lake, 
and  where  there  was  a  blaze  of  colouring  as  the  sun  shone 
on  the  tossed-up  shells  of  white  and  of  a  glittering  pink  of 
which  the  lake  had  many.  Somehow  they  made  him 
think  more  than  ever,  if  that  were  possible,  of  the  red 
berries  around  the  throat  of  Little  Toes.  Much  he  thought, 
he  told  me,  until,  suddenly,  he  knew  what  it  was  that 
made  him  see  Little  Toes  with  her  necklace.  The  white 
shells  were  like  her  white  skin,  and  the  pink  shells  were 
like  the  berries.  Then  came  to  him  a  great  idea.  He  ran 
up  and  down  the  shore,  gathering  the  pink  shells  and  the 
white  ones,  and  filled  his  wolfskin  pouch  with  them,  and 
then  ran  to  his  cave,  and  stayed  within  it  long.  So  it  was 
that  for  many  days  I  had  seen  so  little  of  him,  and  had 
wondered  what  he  might  be  doing  thus  alone. 

In  a  hidden  place  among  the  rocks  near  the  lake  he 
was  at  work  with  bits  of  sandstone  and  his  drill  of  the 
hardest  flint,  working  more  eagerly  than  ever  he  had 
worked  on  spear  or  arrow-head,  and  wonderful  things  be 
gan  to  show  in  his  strong  hands  as  he  so  laboured.  He 


THE  SOWERS  107 

was  most  patient,  as  surely  he  had  need  to  be.  He  bored 
each  white  shell  and  each  one  of  the  bright  pink  until 
there  were  many  of  them  thus  pierced,  and  then  he  rounded 
and  polished  them  until  they  glittered  wondrously  when 
he  brought  them  to  the  light.  He  marvelled  at  them 
himself.  They  were  wonderful  beads.  He  took  a  long 
tendon  from  the  leg  of  a  great  elk  which  we  had  killed, 
such  tendon  as  we  used  for  a  bowstring,  and  which  would 
last  a  lifetime,  and  upon  this  he  strung  the  beads,  first  a 
pink  one  and  then  a  white  one,  and  so  on  to  the  end.  He 
knotted  the  ends  of  the  tendon  together,  in  a  knot  that 
could  not  be  untied,  and  then  held  up  before  his  eyes 
something  which  no  one  had  ever  seen  before  —  the  most 
glorious  shining  thing  that  men  had  ever  known.  It  was 
the  first  necklace  that  would  not  shrink  and  wither.  All 
this  Limp  told  me,  and  showed  me  what  he  had  made. 
It  was  marvellous.  And,  after  this,  the  days  passed, 
and  he  still  laboured  on  the  bauble.  But  no  longer  did 
I  reproach  him  about  the  fish.  My  heart  was  with  him, 
my  lame  companion. 

And  all  this  time,  while  Limp  had  been  working  in  the 
hiding  place  in  the  rocks,  Big  Bow  had  been  seeking  to 
gain  Little  Toes  and  take  her  to  his  living  place.  To 
him,  as  to  Limp,  came  a  new  idea.  He  would  make  a 
gift  to  the  girl.  One  night,  just  after  the  darkness  came, 
Big  Bow  went  to  the  cave  of  Little  Toes  when  he  knew 
that  the  girl  would  be  alone,  for  that  was  the  time  that 
Old  Log  and  Groundnut,  his  wife,  went  forth  to  gossip 
in  the  neighbouring  caves.  Tossed  over  one  of  his 
shoulders  was  the  body  of  a  little  deer,  very  fat,  that  he 
had  killed  that  day;  and  over  the  other  hung  down  to  his 


108  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

very  feet  a  great  glossy  mass,  which  was  the  most  won 
derful  skin  in  the  world,  for  it  was  the  skin  of  the  great 
cave  bear,  the  only  one  in  the  tribe,  and  had  come  to  Big 
Bow  because  he  was  foremost  in  the  famous  chase  and 
fight  when  the  bear  was  killed.  The  bear  put  an  end  to 
old  Chuck  that  day. 

Few  words  had  Big  Bow.  He  laid  the  deer  at  the  feet 
of  Little  Toes,  and  then  spread  out  the  skin  on  the  ground 
before  her. 

"It  is  yours,"  he  said.  "To-morrow  I  am  coming  to 
take  you  to  my  cave." 

Little  Toes  did  not  answer  at  first.  She  only  threw 
herself  down  upon  the  furry  skin,  and  cuddled  herself 
there. 

"It  is  good,"  she  said. 

Then  Big  Bow  went  away. 

Soon  there  was  a  little  sound  in  the  almost  darkness, 
and  Limp  stood  beside  the  girl,  as  Big  Bow  had  done. 
The  fire  in  the  cave  blazed  up,  and  he  called  her  to  it. 
Then  from  his  wolfskin  pouch  he  drew  forth  something 
which  flashed  and  glittered  almost  like  the  flying  blazing 
bugs  of  the  night  among  the  bushes  or  the  shining  things 
in  the  sky  above.  It  seemed  almost  alive.  He  hung  it 
about  her  neck.  The  girl  looked  down  upon  it  in  speech 
less  amazement.  She  lifted  the  beads  in  her  shaking 
fingers,  but  her  lips  were  still.  She  seemed  almost  to  be 
in  one  of  the  dreams  which  come  to  one  sleeping. 

"  Come  with  me  to  my  cave,  and  be  my  wife, "said  Limp. 

She  did  not  answer,  even  then.  She  only  put  her  hand 
in  his,  and  they  went  out  into  the  night. 

They  took  the  bearskin  with  them. 


THE  SOWERS  109 

There  is  nothing  more  to  tell  of  the  marrying  of  Limp 
and  Little  Toes.  He  was  with  me  less.  I  was  some 
times  most  lonesome  without  him. 

Raging  like  a  bull  aurochs  was  Big  Bow  when  he  learned 
that  Little  Toes  was  lost  to  him,  and  that  the  wonderful 
skin  was  lost  as  well,  and  deep  were  his  threats  of  ven 
geance  upon  Limp ;  but  I  —  I,  Scar,  the  Strong  —  told 
him  that  I  would  slay  him  if  evil  came  to  Limp  through 
him;  and  he  did  not  dare  to  hurt  him.  Not  always  do 
the  lake  people  fight  for  their  friends  —  we  were  but  rude; 
but  I  had  for  Limp  a  liking  which  was  my  own,  and  I  am 
sometimes  hard  of  mood.  And  soon  there  were  other 
necklaces  of  shell  and  pebbles,  and  amulets  and  anklets 
of  coloured  shells  worn  by  the  young  women.  Very  stren 
uous  are  lovers. 

Never  before,  as  I  have  said,  had  the  wild  people  lived 
so  peacefully  nor  learned  so  many  things  to  make  the 
living  easier.  Fine  was  the  climate,  for  even  in  winter 
the  snows  were  not  too  deep  nor  the  cold  too  biting,  and 
there  were  game  and  fish,  and  the  fruits  and  nuts  and  soft 
roots  of  the  forest  were  there  in  plenty.  We  were  soon 
to  have  them  all  the  more  because  of  the  things,  as  I  have 
said,  that  we  learned. 

Many  times  had  the  sun  risen  since  Limp  and  Little 
Toes  began  living  in  the  hut  that  Limp  builded.  And 
one  thing,  greatest  of  all,  we  found,  because  now  we  feared 
the  winters  less. 

I  have  told  of  old  Ox,  and  of  old  Feather,  his  wife,  who 
were  friends  of  Limp,  and  who  lived  alone  in  a  hut  above  the 
village,  and  of  how  the  woman  winnowed  and  pounded  her 
seeds  in  an  open  wide  earthy  space  near  the  hut,  sur- 


110  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

rounded  on  all  sides  by  rocks,  and  never  entered  save  by  her 
and  Ox,  or  by  the  birds  of  the  air.  Much  she  laboured 
there,  being  so  patient  in  her  gathering  of  seeds;  and  it 
often  chanced  that  when  gusts  of  wind  came  in  her  win 
nowing  by  tossing  up  the  grain  in  her  hands,  some  of  the 
seeds  would  be  carried  away,  and  scattered  over  the  little 
field,  and  after  that  the  birds  would  come  to  eat  them. 
Many  a  bird  did  old  Ox  get  there  with  his  arrows;  for 
though  his  eyes  were  growing  dim,  because  of  age,  he 
still  shot  very  well,  for  he  had  been  a  master  bowman  in 
his  day.  But  it  is  not  of  the  birds  he  killed  that  I  am 
going  to  tell,  but  of  another  matter  concerning  the 
scattered  seeds,  and  what  came  at  first  through  no  man's 
thought  or  doing,  but  all  by  accident,  and  later  because  of 
the  wisdom  of  old  Feather. 

All  through  the  autumn  Feather  had  winnowed  the 
great  store  of  seeds  she  had  gathered,  and  there  was  an 
abundance  in  the  skin  bags  in  the  hut  for  the  winter  — 
both  to  make  into  the  water  cakes,  and  to  trade  for  meat 
or  fish.  But  likewise  there  remained  many  seeds  missed 
by  the  birds,  scattered  over  the  little  bare  field,  which, 
though  amid  the  rocks,  had  a  soil  which  was  quite  deep, 
the  washings  from  the  heights  above.  Then  came  winter 
and  the  snow,  and  the  field  was  hidden. 

And  then  followed  the  spring,  and  the  rains  and  the 
warm  sun,  and  Feather  saw  what  was  curious  to  her, 
yet  what,  as  she  thought  upon  it,  pleased  her  mightily. 
Thoughtful  and  far-sighted  was  old  Feather.  What  she 
saw  was  a  green  carpet  on  a  little  portion  of  the  field  near 
the  hut,  and,  looking  at  it  closely,  she  saw  that  it  was 
made  up  of  shoots  and  spears  of  the  millet  and  the  barley, 


THE  SOWERS  111 

for  in  her  years  she  had  learned  discernment,  and  knew 
them  well,  even  as  they  grew  in  greenness.  Then  came 
to  her  a  great  idea.  She  and  old  Ox  would  not  trample 
upon  the  green  space,  but  would  let  the  plants  grow  and 
ripen  their  seeds  there.  "So  I  shall  have  more  seeds  for 
the  winter,"  thought  she,  "and  shall  not  have  to  go  afar 
for  a  part  of  them,  at  least."  And  so  they  guarded  the 
patch  of  barley  and  millet,  and  it  grew  lustily,  and  the 
seeds  ripened,  and  from  the  fruitful  patch  old  Feather 
garnered  in  the  autumn  quite  a  store  of  seeds,  to  add  to 
that  which  she  gleaned  in  long  journey  ings  across  the 
plain,  and  between  the  rocks  where  a  little  soil  might  be, 
or  in  the  forest  openings.  Long  and  deeply  did  Feather 
ponder  over  this  thing  when  the  winter  came  again,  and 
she  and  Ox,  well  fed,  huddled  and  talked  or  slept  in  their 
skins  beside  the  fire  in  the  clod-covered  hut.  Seeds  she 
had  in  abundance,  and  from  her  store  she  filled  two  bags 
' —  one  of  barley,  and  one  of  millet  —  picking  these  seeds 
carefully  one  by  one  from  the  others  with  which  they  were 
mixed.  To  old  Ox  she  told  of  the  strange  thing  she  was 
going  to  do,  and  he  promised  to  aid  her,  for  well  had  he 
learned,  through  the  long  years,  of  the  shrewdness  and 
wisdom  of  the  faithful  woman  he  had  taken  in  his  lusty 
youth. 

To  Limp  and  me,  as  well  as  to  old  Ox,  her  husband, 
Feather  told  her  plan,  because  she  knew  that  we  cared 
for  her,  and  would  not  deride  here;  and,  as  for  me,  I  be 
came  almost  as  earnest  and  curious  as  she  herself  over 
the  outcome  of  what  she  was  to  do.  Why  should  not 
something  come  of  that?  Plants  grew  from  the  seed  — 
we  all  knew  that  —  and  why  should  we  not  put  the  seeds 


A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

where  we  wanted  the  plants  to  grow?  But  only  old 
Feather  had  thought  of  that. 

And  the  spring  came  again,  and  the  warm  rains,  and 
carefully  old  Feather  scattered  her  seeds  all  over  the  little 
field,  with  its  scant  covering  of  short  grasses  here  and 
there.  The  barley  she  scattered  on  half  of  the  field,  and 
the  millet  on  the  other.  I  was  there  when  she  did  it,  and 
even  scattered  some  of  the  seed  myself,  for  the  field  was 
not  so  very  little,  after  all.  Nearly  a  score  of  yards  across, 
it  must  have  been.  And,  after  the  seed  was  sown,  we  sat 
down  beside  the  hut  to  talk.  Then  to  the  feast  spread 
for  them  suddenly  the  keen-eyed  birds,  the  pigeons,  and 
even  some  of  the  pheasants  and  many  smaller  things. 
Old  Feather  ran  yelling,  and  waved  a  skin  at  them,  and 
they  flew  away,  only  to  return  when  she  came  from  the 
field,  for  the  seeds  showed  everywhere  but  too  plainly, 
and  were  too  inviting.  Then  happened  something  be 
cause  of  what  was  observed  of  Feather,  but  did  for  good 
far  more  than  she  intended.  The  seeds  must  be  hidden! 
She  found  a  little  fallen  tree,  a  great  branch  to  which  still 
clung  the  dried  leaves,  and,  I  aiding  her,  we  dragged  it 
all  over  the  field,  by  its  trunk,  the  ragged  points  and  ends 
of  the  limbs  tearing  up  the  earth,  not  deeply,  but  enough, 
and  so  hiding  all  the  seeds  beneath  the  ground.  Then 
the  birds  came  no  more,  though  old  Ox  was  watchful  and 
ever  ready  with  his  bow. 

And  as  soon  as  the  sun  smote  down  and  warmed  the 
earth,  though  the  snows  still  came  at  times,  there  came 
sprouts  from  the  soil  all  over  the  little  field,  and  then  it 
became  all  a  vivid  green,  and  later  there  was  sent  up  a 
broad  waving  mass  of  the  green  plants,  which  yellowed  as 


THE  SOWERS  113 

the  autumn  came,  and  the  seeds  formed,  and  Feather,  the 
wonderful  old  woman,  had,  all  together,  and  close  beside 
her  hut,  such  store  of  seed  as  would  have  taken  many 
weary  leagues  of  search  to  gather  and  long  carrying  in 
all  weather.  The  birds  came  again  as  the  grain  ripened; 
but  the  field  was  guarded  by  old  Ox  and  me,  and  great 
sport  we  had  in  the  shooting.  A  wonderfully  good  bait 
for  the  birds  which  were  best  to  eat  was  the  grain  field 
of  old  Feather.  And  all  the  grain  there  was  she  gathered 
and  put  into  the  skin  bags.  It  was  good  to  see  old  Ox 
then.  Somehow  very  close  together  were  these  two  old 
creatures,  and  he  was  proud. 

"There  is  none  like  Feather,"  he  said  to  me.  "Her 
neck  wrinkles  are  fairer  than  the  beads  of  the  girls." 

And  all  the  tribe  wondered  and  admired,  and  much  de 
sired  such  store  of  seed  as  was  in  the  hut  of  old  Ox  and 
Feather.  And  others  would  do  as  she  had  done;  and 
that  year  they  garnered  many  seeds,  and  stored  them,  and 
when  the  spring  came  again  they  cleared  a  field  on  the  plain 
close  to  the  hillside  and  near  the  village,  and  made  a  high 
fence  of  brush  about  it  to  keep  out  the  wild  beasts  at 
night,  and  there  planted  the  seed.  The  grain  grew  and 
ripened,  and  the  children  guarded  the  field  to  keep  away 
the  flocks  of  hungry  birds;  and  with  the  autumn  came 
such  store  of  seeds  as  the  tribe  never  had  owned  before. 
The  winter  might  be  cold,  and  the  snow  lie  deep,  and  the 
hunting  be  bad,  but  there  would  in  time  be  no  starving 
in  the  huts,  for  with  each  year  the  field  was  made  larger, 
and  the  crop  the  greater.  But  old  Feather  joined  not 
with  the  others.  She  but  worked  in  her  own  little  field, 
and  pondered  much  and  planted  carefully. 


114  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

And  old  Ox  became  very  feeble  and  died,  and  we  carried 
him  into  the  hills,  and  heaped  many  stones  upon  him, 
that  the  prowling  beasts  might  not  reach  him,  and  prom 
ised  Feather  that  some  day  we  would  lay  her  beside  him, 
for  so  she  asked  us.  Feather  then  lived  alone  beside  her 
little  field;  but  an  abundance  she  had  brought  to  her  of 
fish  and  game,  because  of  what  she  had  done  for  all  of 
us,  and  because  she  had  such  an  abundance  of  good  grain 
to  furnish  for  the  seeding. 

There  was  a  great  marsh  perhaps  two  leagues  away 
from  where  we  lived,  beside  the  river  which  ran  beside  the 
cliffs,  and  this  opened  on  a  great  creek  which  ran  into  our 
river  after  it  had  reached  the  plain.  In  the  midst  of  the 
marsh  was  an  island  with  not  many  trees  but  much  shrub 
bery  upon  it,  and  all  sorts  of  plants  and  grasses.  Once 
old  Feather  had  gone  to  the  island  in  the  later  autumn, 
when  the  marsh  was  frozen  over,  for  it  was  dangerous  and 
avoided  by  all  at  other  times,  and  there  had  found,  not 
only  much  millet  and  barley,  but  another  seed  which  grew 
a  little  like  the  barley,  but  with  shorter  husks  and  prickles 
to  it,  and  another  kind  of  seed.  She  had  gathered  but 
little  of  this  seed;  but  it  had  proved  most  toothsome  and 
best  of  all  seeds  to  eat.  The  wheat,  she  called  it.  Much 
she  longed  for  this  seed,  that  she  might  plant  it  in  her 
field,  and  raise  plants  of  this  kind,  but  she  was  too  old 
and  tired  for  such  a  journey  now,  and  so  I,  who  cared  for 
the  old  couple  who  had  done  so  much  for  the  clan,  made 
promise  that  some  day  I  would  get  it  for  her.  And  this 
word  I  did  not  forget. 

There  came  a  day,  when  it  was  early  autumn  still,  that 
I  had  great  good  fortune  in  the  hunt  soon  after  the  sun 


THE  SOWERS  115 

had  risen.  There  was  a  fog  upon  the  plain  where  the 
deer  and  the  urus  and  other  wild  things  of  the  grass-eaters 
fed,  and  no  wind  to  carry  my  scent;  and  before  daylight 
I  crept  far  out  on  the  wild  meadow,  for  well  I  knew  the 
way,  even  in  darkness,  and  hid  myself  in  a  little  clump  of 
bushes  near  the  forest.  I  carried  my  strongest  bow  and 
the  sharpest  and  best  of  my  flint  arrows.  So  I  lay  hid 
den  and  silent,  and  soon  I  could  hear,  very  close  beside 
me,  the  sound  of  moving,  feeding  things.  And  slowly, 
very  slowly,  the  fog  thinned,  and  more  light  came. 

Not  ten  yards  from  me  —  so  close  that  it  seemed  impos 
sible  he  could  not  have  felt  me  near,  nor  caught  my  scent, 
broad  side  toward  me  —  fed  a  great  stag  leading  his  does. 
Already,  before  the  fog  lessened,  I  had  prepared  myself 
—  one  knee  on  the  ground,  and  arrow  notched  for  what 
ever  hap  might  come  with  the  light.  Never  was  afforded 
fairer  mark  so  close.  I  held  my  aim  upon  where  the  heart 
of  the  stag  should  be,  and  drew  with  all  my  strength  until 
the  great  bow  groaned,  and  the  head  of  the  arrow  was 
beside  my  hand,  and  then  I  released  it  —  I,  the  strongest 
of  bowmen.  With  the  loud  twang  there  came  a  great 
snorting,  and  the  does  were  gone.  Not  so  the  huge  stag. 
He  leaped  far  aloft,  and  gave  a  mighty  bleat,  and  rolled 
to  earth,  thrashing  about  in  his  death  agony.  I  had 
driven  the  arrow  through  his  heart,  and  so  mightily  that 
the  arrow-head  stuck  out  on  the  farther  side! 

I  ran  to  the  village,  and  called  aloud  to  the  men,  and 
we  brought  the  stag  slung  beneath  a  great  pole  borne  on 
the  shoulders  of  half  a  dozen  of  us  at  either  end.  A 
great  feast  of  venison  had  the  whole  clan  that  morning. 
Much  I  ate,  and  then  I  slept  a  little;  but  the  sun  was  not 


116  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

yet  at  its  highest  when  I  awoke  refreshed  and  strong,  and 
full  of  vaimtingness.  I  said  to  myself,  "I  will  do  yet  an 
other  thing  this  day.  I  will  go  to  the  great  marsh,  and 
get  for  old  Feather  the  strange  new  seed  she  wants." 
So  I  said  to  old  Feather,  and  I  spoke  vauntingly : 

"Already  to-day  have  I  killed  a  great  stag,  and  we  have 
much  meat.  More  yet  will  I  do  before  the  darkness 
comes.  I  will  go  to  the  island  in  the  marsh  and  gather 
for  you  as  nearly  a  bagful  as  I  can  of  the  new  kind  of  seeds 
that  you  need,  and  will  bring  the  bag  to  you,  that  you  may 
keep  the  seeds  for  the  spring  planting." 

And  I  threw  out  my  breast. 

But  Feather  cried  out  that  I  should  not  go.  Very 
treacherous  was  the  marsh,  she  said,  and  its  sand  and  its 
black  slime  had  sucked  down  to  death  many  beasts  which 
ventured  into  it.  I  must  wait  until  the  winter  came,  and 
the  marsh  was  frozen,  so  that  a  man  might  walk  upon  it 
safely.  True,  there  might  not  be  any  of  the  seeds  left, 
for  the  birds  would  have  taken  most  of  them,  but  with  the 
few  she  had  she  could  raise  a  little  crop,  and  the  next  year 
there  would  be  an  abundance  for  the  planting.  But  I 
only  laughed  at  her.  I,  Scar,  was  vain,  and  thought  it 
an  easy  thing  for  me  to  do. 

Still,  after  I  had  left  Feather,  there  was  almost  a  little 
fear  in  me.  I  knew  that  many  beasts  had  perished  in 
the  marsh,  and  that  in  past  times  more  than  one  person 
who  had  hunted  along  its  edges,  and  maybe  ventured  a 
little  way  into  it  after  some  wounded  game,  had  never  been 
seen  in  the  village  again;  but  I  was  proud,  and  would 
not  give  up  the  venture.  I  sought,  however,  one  of  the 
very  old  men,  Three  Tooth,  who  had  been  a  great  hunter 


THE  SOWERS  117 

and  very  daring  in  his  youth,  and  who,  I  thought,  might 
give  me  good  advice  as  to  the  way  I  should  take  to  get  to 
the  island  safely.  He  was  very  old,  and  mumbled  as  he 
talked,  but  from  him  I  learned  that  once  he  had  reached 
the  island  in  midsummer,  though  after  a  most  perilous 
journey,  leaping  from  tussock  to  tussock,  where  from  the 
land  to  the  east  of  the  island  they  rose  more  closely  than 
elsewhere;  but  he  raised  his  thin  arms,  and  shook  his 
wrinkled  hands,  and  warned  me  in  his  cracked  voice 
against  trying  to  make  the  journey.  Barely  had  he  come 
back  from  the  island  with  his  life.  Once  he  slipped  as  he 
leaped,  and  the  black  ooze  and  sucking  sand  caught  him; 
and  had  there  not  been  on  the  tussock  from  which  he 
slipped  a  deep-rooted  overhanging  willow,  to  a  limb  of 
which  he  clung,  and  by  aid  of  which  he  at  last  pulled  him 
self  out,  he  would  surely  have  been  lost.  He  begged  me 
not  to  go,  but  I  told  him  that  I  had  resolved,  and  so  he 
told  me  again  the  way  he  had  taken,  but  as  I  left  him  he 
was  shaking  his  head  and  mumbling  wildly. 

One  of  Feather's  skin  bags  I  took,  and  fastened  it  to 
my  skin  belt,  that  I  might  not  be  bothered  with  the  carry 
ing  of  it,  and,  besides  it,  only  my  flint  spear,  the  long, 
strong  staff  of  which  I  thought  might  aid  me  in  my  leap 
ing  or  in  balancing  upon  the  tussocks.  Across  the  plain 
I  went  until  I  reached  the  eastern  side  of  the  great  marsh, 
in  the  midst  of  which  rose  the  island  —  not  very  high,  but 
showing  green  with  its  shrubs  against  the  dreary  gray 
stretch  of  little  ponds  and  black  mud  and  brown  rushes 
which  lay  between  it  and  where  I  stood.  It  was  true,  as 
the  old  man  had  told  me,  that  there  stretched  irregularly 
across  this  space  a  line  of  little  uprising  mounds  and  tus- 


118  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

socks,  upon  some  of  which  were  stunted  willows  growing, 
but  they  were  not  as  close  together  as  I  could  have  liked, 
and  all  seemed  desolate  and  threatening.  However,  the 
sun  shown  brightly,  and  some  of  the  scummy  pools  were 
glittering  in  a  way,  and  I  felt  a  little  braver  than  I  would 
have  had  the  day  been  gloomy,  and  so  set  my  teeth  to 
gether  and  started  to  make  the  passage. 

There  was  shallow  water  between  me  and  the  nearest 
uprearing  hummock;  but  I  felt  the  bottom  with  my  spear, 
and  found  it  to  be  safe  enough,  and  waded  out  easily  to 
the  hummock,  which  was  gray  and  grassy,  and  firm  be 
neath  my  feet.  The  next  was  farther  away;  but  again  I 
felt  the  bottom  with  my  spear,  and  again  I  waded,  and 
once  more  landed  easily.  And  so  from  hummock  to 
hummock  I  waded,  sometimes  leaping  when  the  dry 
places  were  near  together,  always  feeling  my  way  carefully 
with  my  spear,  but  going  forward  rapidly.  I  laughed 
then  at  the  foolish  fears  of  the  people  of  the  village. 

"It  is  but  an  old  tale,"  I  shouted  aloud  in  my  glee. 
"It  is  but  a  fearsome  story  invented  by  the  old  men  and 
women.  A  child  might  wade  to  the  island." 

I  was  within  a  hundred  yards  of  it.  I  leaped  to  the 
next  hummock  and  across  it,  and  again  thrust  down  my 
spear.  The  water  was  shallow  now  all  the  way  to  the 
shore.  But,  though  I  thrust  it  in  to  the  butt,  I  could 
reach  no  solid  bottom  through  the  black  ooze.  It  clung 
to  the  spear,  and  strength  was  required  even  in  pulling 
out  the  slender  shaft. 

Now  I  thought  deeply,  and  something  like  a  fear  came 
to  me  again.  Between  me  and  the  island's  shore  there 
rose  in  almost  a  straight  line  a  series  of  sedgy  tussocks 


THE  SOWERS  119 

within  leaping  distance  of  each  other,  but  some  of  them 
were  small,  and  I  feared  unstable  in  their  rooted  anchor 
age.  However,  I  must  try  to  cross  upon  them.  They 
might  all  be  solid.  And  I  must  take  them  with  a  rush, 
leaping  from  one  to  another  before  there  could  be  time  for 
any  settling.  I  braced  myself  at  the  hummock's  edge, 
holding  my  spear  crosswise  in  front  of  me,  to  assist  me 
as  a  balance,  and  leaped  forward  in  a  mad  race  for  the 
firm  land.  From  tussock  to  tussock  I  sprang,  each  af 
fording  stoutness  enough  for  the  next  leap,  though  some 
I  could  feel  sway  beneath  my  feet  beneath  the  thrusting 
force,  and  so  desperately  I  gained  my  way  until  I  leaped 
triumphantly  for  the  last,  a  little  sedge-tufted  uprising 
not  six  feet  from  the  shore.  It  turned  beneath  my  feet! 
I  did  not  fall,  but  my  feet  and  legs  shot  straight  down 
ward  into  the  black  ooze,  and  I  stood  erect  there  in  water 
less  than  a  hand's-breadth  deep,  but  engulfed  nearly  to 
my  hips.  For  a  moment  I  did  not  seem  in  such  a  dread 
ful  strait.  There  was  the  firm  land  so  near  me  that  I 
could  reach  it  with  my  spear;  and  surely  I,  strongest  man 
in  a  tribe  where  were  many  strong  ones,  could,  some  way, 
pull  myself  from  the  clutching,  and  flounder  out  to  safety. 
I  laid  the  spear  crosswise  upon  the  bottom  in  front  of  me, 
that  I  might  press  upon  it  as  a  sort  of  leverage,  and  bore 
down  hardly,  and  strove  to  lift  my  right  leg  to  the  sur 
face.  I  could  not.  The  spear  but  sank  into  the  ooze, 
affording  no  resistance,  and  the  leg  seemed  held  in  an 
awful  grip  such  as  I  never  before  had  felt.  I  tried  to  lift 
the  other,  but  it  would  not  come  from  the  clasp  of  the 
monster  beneath.  My  struggling  but  sank  me  more 
deeply.  That  would  not  do.  I  stood  motionless,  think- 


120  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

ing  that  perhaps  I  would  sink  no  deeper.  If  I  could  but 
remain  thus,  even  though  I  should  suffer,  they  would  — 
since  all  the  village  knew  of  my  quest  —  come  at  least  to 
the  border  of  the  marsh,  in  the  morning,  to  seek  for  me, 
and  would  hear  my  shouting.  It  might  be  then  that  they 
would  devise  some  means  of  reaching  and  rescuing  me. 
I  made  note  of  a  thong  in  my  skin  leggings  below  the 
waist,  and  so  waited,  shouting  all  the  time,  with  a  little 
hope  that  some  hunter  might  be  passing  along  by  the 
distant  shore.  But  there  came  no  answer.  Rarely  did 
the  hunters  seek  the  water  birds  of  the  marsh.  I  looked 
at  the  thong  again.  I  could  not  see  it!  Though  I  was 
making  no  move,  the  quicksand  of  the  ooze  was  drawing 
me  steadily  downward.  I  lost  my  wits.  I  sought  to  rush 
to  the  solid  land  by  some  huge  effort  of  main  strength 
and  force,  but  there  was  nothing  beneath  my  feet  to  aid 
me,  and  I  sank  deeper  and  deeper.  When  my  struggling 
ceased,  I  was  engulfed  to  my  shoulders.  Even  to  free  my 
arms  I  must  uplift  them,  and  I  knew  that  the  end  of  me 
was  very  near.  I  held  them  aloft  for  a  little  time,  and  then, 
wearied,  let  them  drop  into  the  water  and  upon  the  ooze 
of  the  bottom,  where  they  rested,  sinking  slowly. 

But  at  the  end,  brave  men  are  always  brave.  I  shouted- 
at  the  ooze  and  quicksands.  They  should  not  take  my 
life!  They  could  not,  for  my  life  would  be  gone  before 
they  had  all  my  body.  There  was  the  water,  only  half 
a  foot  of  it,  but  enough,  and  of  all  deaths,  drowning  I  knew 
was  the  easiest.  I  had  seen  men  nearly  drowned  whom 
we  had  saved  just  in  time,  and  they  had  told  me  that 
such  a  death  must  be  pleasant.  The  very  head  alone  was 
above  the  water  now.  I  whooped  defiance. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   TAMERS 

I  WAS  aroused  from  a  bad  dream  by  the  sharp,  yipping 
cry  of  dogs.  I  was  glad  to  be  awake,  for  in  my  dream 
there  was  suffocation.  For  a  little  time  after  I  awoke 
I  was  dazed  in  mind,  and  could  not  recognize  myself  or 
my  surroundings.  I  was  lying  in  a  little  sunlit  hollow 
upon  a  grass-green  spot  on  the  surface  of  a  slight  rocky 
height  in  the  plain,  and  my  bow  and  skin  quiver  of  arrows 
and  my  flint-headed  spear,  smooth  as  the  teeth  of  the 
river  horse  and  keen  of  edge  as  the  blades  of  the  marsh 
grass,  were  beside  me.  Gradually  I  remembered  that  I 
had  come  alone  to  the  plain  to  hunt  the  hares  which  were 
abundant  in  and  about  the  scattered  rocks,  and  the  bus 
tards  which  fed  upon  the  seeds  of  the  many  bushes.  I  had 
climbed  the  little  height  to  look  about  the  better,  but 
could  see  no  game,  and  so  had  thrown  myself  down  on  the 
soft  turf,  to  await  whatever  might  appear,  and  then  had 
fallen  asleep. 

Two  young  wolf  cubs  had  been  captured  by  boys  of  the 
tribe,  and  brought  into  camp,  and  allowed  to  live;  and, 
when  they  became  grown,  were  not  savage,  like  other 
wolves,  but  remained  about,  and  were  fed,  and  would 
sometimes  prove  obedient  to  what  was  told  them.  Once  or 
twice  they  had  even  aided  in  the  hunt,  by  pulling  down 
some  wounded  animal,  and  so  had  earned  their  feed.  It 

121 


A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

seemed  now  that  they  had  followed  me  to  the  hunt, 
though  I  did  not  want  them  and  had  driven  them  back, 
and  now  I  rose  to  my  feet  to  see  what  it  was  that  had  been 
the  occasion  of  their  clamour.  They  were  leaping  fran 
tically  about  a  huge  aurochs  bull  which  had  wandered 
from  the  wide  forest  glades  where  the  aurochs  were  in 
greatest  numbers,  and  now  was  feeding  quietly  upon  the 
occasional  sweet  grass  tufts  about  the  thickets.  To  the 
two  wolf  dogs  he  paid  little  attention,  save  once  in  a  while 
to  shake  his  thick  short  horns,  and  make  a  little  rush  at 
them.  A  great  pack  of  wolves  would  be  required  to  pull 
down  the  mighty  aurochs. 

I  could  but  look  idly  upon  the  useless  onslaught.  Were 
I  very  close  to  the  bull  I  might  drive  a  shaft  to  his  heart, 
and  so  get  a  great  prize.  We  had  done  this  sometimes, 
hiding  in  little  trees;  but  I  knew,  were  I  to  show  myself, 
that  the  beast  would  take  to  flight,  and  there  was  no  cover 
by  means  of  which  I  might  creep  upon  him.  I  shouted 
and  waved  my  arms,  and  aurochs  and  wolf  dogs  went 
careering  away  together  toward  the  distant  forest.  Soon 
the  hares  came  forth  from  their  hiding  places,  and  I  shot 
three  of  them  as  they  came  feeding  close  to  the  little 
height  upon  which  I  crouched.  Very  good  eating  were 
the  hares,  and  they  were  of  much  value  to  us  at  times, 
being  abundant  when  greater  game  was  scarce. 

As  I  took  my  way  back  to  the  huts  in  the  gorge,  the  two 
dogs,  tired  of  the  useless  and  hopeless  chase,  came  back, 
and  followed  close  behind  me.  It  was  curious.  Never 
before  had  any  wild  beast  become  a  friend  of  man,  all 
either  fleeing  before  him  or  seeking  to  devour  him.  Much 
I  wondered  if  any  other  than  these  would  be  tamed,  and 


THE  TAMERS  123 

become,  it  might  be,  of  use  to  us.  Often  had  I  talked  of 
this  to  Old  Bear,  who  lived  in  a  cave  near  my  hut  in  the 
ravine,  and  who  was  the  father  of  Dark  Eyes,  she  who 
should  have  one  of  the  hares  I  had  killed.  Often  had  I 
brought  game  to  Old  Bear  and  his  wife  and  Dark  Eyes. 
She  was  good  to  look  upon.  Her  slender  arms  were 
round,  and  her  lips  were  like  the  red  berries.  Likewise 
she  was  changeful  of  mood,  and  showed  her  teeth  some 
times,  as,  when  other  beasts  come  near,  does  the  she  pan 
ther  lying  with  her  cubs  at  the  mouth  of  her  den  in  the 
rocks.  And  beyond  the  cave  of  Bear  was  that  of  the  family 
of  Black  Bow,  with  whom  I  sometimes  hunted  and  with 
whom  was  little  Humpback,  the  slave  girl  we  captured  in  a 
battle  with  a  tribe  far  to  the  north,  whose  lands  we  had 
invaded  in  the  hunting.  We  lost  good  men  in  that  fight, 
and  got  many  hurts;  but  at  last  we  drove  the  others  back 
for  a  time,  and  so  escaped,  bringing  with  us  the  girl  Hump 
back,  whom  we  caught  in  a  tree  she  had  climbed.  She  was 
older  than  the  children  of  Black  Bow  and  Loon,  his  wife, 
and  cared  for  them,  and  hunted  for  nuts  and  roots,  and 
cooked  the  fish  and  meat,  though  she  was  but  small  and 
bent,  because  of  the  hump  upon  her  back.  Likewise  she 
was  deft  with  the  bone  needles  and  threads  of  sinews,  and 
made  the  skin  coats  and  leggins  worn  by  those  with  whom 
she  lived.  Once  she  made  a  coat  for  me  from  the  skins 
of  wolves  I  had  killed,  and  it  was  a  good  coat.  Often  I 
brought  meat  to  the  cave  of  Black  Bow;  for  I,  who  lived 
alone,  often  killed  more  than  I  could  eat,  or  sell  to  the  old 
bow  and  arrow-maker  or  to  the  fisherman.  Many  were 
the  skins  in  my  hut  of  poles  and  thatched  leaves  which 
leaned  against  the  rock,  and  soft  was  the  bed  upon  which 


124  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

I  slept.  Long,  sometimes,  did  Dark  Eyes  look  upon  me, 
and  I  did  not  like  the  other  look  when  she  saw  Hump 
back  eating  of  the  meat  I  had  brought  to  the  cave  of 
Black  Bow.  Why  should  her  eyes  at  such  times  have  had 
such  a  look?  The  eyes  of  Humpback  never  glittered  in 
such  a  way,  and  always  she  smiled  when  others  ate  and 
patted  their  stomachs  when  they  were  full  and  sleepy. 
Wise  and  swift  was  Humpback,  and  her  look  was  always 
that  of  the  urus  cow  as  she  broods  above  her  young  calf 
in  the  bushes. 

I  came  to  the  cave  of  Black  Bow,  but  there  was  no  one 
within,  and  none  to  be  seen  up  or  down  the  rocky  glen  in 
which  we  lived,  and  which  led  downward  to  the  river. 
Between  the  hills  was  a  little  valley  down  which  the  creek 
runs,  and  in  the  rocky  hill  on  either  side  were  many  caves, 
while  built  against  the  walls  were  huts  of  poles  like  my 
own.  Better  were  the  caves  in  winter,  when  the  cold  was 
bitter,  but  in  the  summer  the  huts  were  best  to  live  in. 
Even  in  winter  they  were  made  warm  with  many  skins 
hung  tent-like  about  the  fire,  and  none  perished  from  the 
cold.  It  was  a  good  place  for  a  camping,  though  some 
times  we  might  go  from  there,  for  we  stayed  not  always 
in  one  place,  as  do  some  tribes  of  which  I  have  heard,  who 
plant  seeds  in  the  ground,  and  so  fear  less  the  famine;  but 
when  the  game  was  hunted  out  we  drifted  ever  to  the 
southward,  to  find  anew  some  rocky  place  beside  the 
water  where  we  might  defend  ourselves  against  all  things, 
and  have  water  and  the  fishing  at  hand.  But  here  was 
still  game.  There  were  yet  the  urus  and  the  aurochs  and 
even  the  little  wild  horses  and  wild  pigs  and  many  deer 
and  the  grouse  and  ducks  and  many  other  birds.  I  — • 


THE  TAMERS  125 

Scar,  the  hunter  —  found  meat  and  skin  and  fur  for  my 
using,  and  sometimes  sharp  encounter,  for,  where  the  game 
is,  there  are  the  beasts  which  feed  upon  them,  the  great 
brown  bear,  and  the  smaller  bear,  and  the  wolf  pack,  and 
the  leopard  and  panther  and  hyena-like  thing,  and  the 
lurking,  silent  wolverine,  were  many  in  number  and  rang 
ing  far  and  wide.  Once  there  were  huge  tigers,  and  mon 
sters  in  the  river,  so  the  old  men  told  from  tales  of  their 
grandfathers,  and  from  their  further  grandfathers  away 
back  dimly,  but  all  those  more  dreadful  things  were  gone. 
Yet  it  was  by  no  means  wise  to  hunt  carelessly.  Not  a 
few  of  the  tribe  had  gone  into  the  woods  or  far  out  upon 
the  plain  and  never  came  back,  and  once  I  found  a  gnawed, 
grinning  head  of  bone  which  must  have  been  the  head  of  a 
man.  Always  upon  my  hunting,  beside  my  bow,  I  car 
ried  my  sharp  spear  in  hand,  and  my  stone  axe  in  my  belt, 
and  I  liked  best  to  hunt  where  there  were  trees  which  I 
could  climb.  Good  things  are  trees. 

I  turned  to  walk  toward  my  hut,  carrying  the  hares  in 
my  hand,  when  I  heard  a  shout  from  the  river,  and  there 
came  to  me  Black  Bow  and  his  wife,  he  with  his  weapons, 
and  she  carrying  a  great  fish  he  had  speared  in  the  shal 
lows.  We  had  done  well.  He  chopped  off  a  part  of  the 
fish,  which  he  gave  to  me,  and  took  two  of  the  hares,  and 
then  I  went  to  my  hut,  and  made  a  fire,  and  cooked  my 
meat  and  fish,  and  ate,  and  was  most  content.  And,  later, 
I  went  out  and  sat  upon  a  rock  with  Black  Bow,  who  also 
had  eaten  and  was  content,  and  we  talked  there  long,  the 
wolf  dogs  playing  about  us. 

The  wolf  dogs  made  me  think;  and  I  said,  as  I  had  said 
before  to  Black  Bow,  that  the  dogs  were  useful,  and  that 


126  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

we  should  seek  to  capture  more  cubs  in  the  caves,  and  I 
asked  him  if  he  did  not  think  there  were  other  wild 
things  we  could  tame  and  use.  But  Black  Bow  only 
laughed  loudly.  "What  think  you,"  he  said,  "of  Gnaw- 
bones  and  the  leopard?  "  And  he  laughed  again. 

That  indeed  made  me  at  a  loss  to  answer,  for  the  ad 
venture  of  the  leopard  had  been  a  brisk  one.  Because  of 
the  youth  Gnawbones  there  had  been  a  lively  half  hour  in 
the  glen.  He  was  a  strange  youth,  living  with  his  father 
and  mother,  old  Three  Toes  and  dark  old  Night,  as  they 
called  her,  in  the  cave  apart  from  the  rest  of  the  tribe  in 
the  gorge  which  leads  from  the  river  caves  to  the  forest 
and  plain  above.  Unlike  most  of  the  Cave  people  were  old 
Three  Toes  and  Night,  and  some  said  that  they  were  the 
children  of  River  people,  captured  long  ago.  I  do  not 
know.  I  know  only  that  they  lived  much  on  frogs  and 
fish  and  clams. 

But  Gnawbones,  the  youth,  was  different  from  his  father 
and  mother.  He  hungered  for  meat,  and  was  a  lonely 
creature  of  the  woods  and  hills.  He  sported  little  with 
the  Cave  youth  below,  but  was  ever  in  the  beech  woods  of 
the  uplands,  and  the  wonder  was  that  the  hunting  beasts 
there  had  not  devoured  him.  But  he  was  keen  of  sight 
and  quick  of  ear,  and  could  run  swiftly,  and  climb  like  the 
monkey  people  who  live  far,  very  far  to  the  south  of  us. 
And  he  brought  alarm  to  the  Cave  people,  and  how  it  first 
began  he  told  me  after  I  had  beaten  him  with  the  handle 
of  my  spear. 

One  day,  moons  before,  when  the  sun  had  just  begun 
going  down  the  sky  to  let  the  darkness  come,  he  was 
sleeping  soundly  in  a  nest  he  had  made  in  a  crotch  of  one 


THE  TAMERS  127 

of  the  great  beech  trees,  when  something,  so  softly  purring 
that  it  awakened  him  but  slowly,  was  pressed  against  his 
face.  He  opened  his  eyes,  and  there,  snuggling  close,  was 
what,  to  the  boy,  was  the  most  beautiful  thing  he  had  ever 
seen.  It  was  tawny,  with  dark  spots,  and  had  shining 
eyes  and  soft  paws  with  which  it  patted  the  youth's  face, 
and  then  sank  down  to  stillness  beside  him.  Much  as  he 
knew  of  the  forest,  the  boy  did  not  recognize  the  creature; 
but  it  was  a  very  young  one  of  the  tree  leopard,  as  it  is 
called,  though  it  cannot  climb  the  small  trees,  and  it  was 
a  thing  which  I  avoided  when  hunting. 

The  foolish  youth  could  not  bear  to  leave  the  thing 
where  he  found  it,  and  slid  down  the  tree  with  it  at  once, 
none  too  soon,  it  may  be,  for  its  mother  must  have  left  it 
somewhere  in  the  treetop  earlier  in  the  day,  and  had  she 
come  back  in  time  there  would  have  been  an  end  of  Gnaw- 
bones,  and  the  she  leopard  would  have  fed  well.  But  he 
got  away  and  took  to  his  father  and  mother  the  little 
thing  which  was  so  pretty  and  purring,  and,  seemingly,  so 
gentle.  They  told  him  he  might  keep  it  —  well  for  them 
was  it  that  I,  who  know  wild  beasts,  heard  nothing  of  the 
matter!  —  and  so  it  was  kept  in  the  cave,  and  fed,  some 
times  on  flesh  which  Gnawbones  brought,  but  mostly  upon 
fish  and  clams  and  frogs,  which,  as  I  have  said,  were  the 
chief  food  of  Three  Toes  and  his  wife. 

And  so,  as  Gnawbones  told  me,  when  I  made  him  con 
fess  with  my  spear-handle,  the  thing  was  kept  in  the  cave, 
and  grew  until  it  became  a  plaything  no  longer,  but  some 
thing  ever  hungry,  and  sometimes  sullen.  Then  they,  the 
foolish  ones,  drove  a  great  stake  in  the  cracked  rock,  in  a 
corner  of  the  cave  floor,  and  tied  the  beast  there,  with  a 


128  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

thong  about  its  neck  fastened  to  a  bar  of  hard  wood,  which, 
in  its  turn,  was  tied  to  the  great  stake.  The  brute,  nearly 
full  grown,  could  only  circle  about  the  stake,  though  ever 
straining  at  his  thongs.  So  they  kept  him  and  fed  him. 
No  man  can  tell  why  they  did  so. 

There  came  a  day  when  the  fishing  was  bad,  and  frogs 
and  clams  were  few  for  Three  Toes,  and  the  hunting  bad 
for  the  youth  Gnawbones,  and  that  day  the  leopard  got 
no  food.  The  next  morning  he  was  raging,  and  Three 
Toes  and  Gnawbones  left  the  cave  early  to  find  what 
might  come  to  them.  At  the  warm  time,  the  middle  of 
the  day,  when  the  sun  hung  almost  over  the  caves  by  the 
river,  there  came  such  a  screaming  and  yelling  from  the 
gorge  as  had  never  been  heard  before.  It  came  to  our 
ears  together,  to  Black  Bow  and  me,  for  we  were  not  in 
our  huts,  but  sitting  outside,  working  upon  our  bows.  I 
seized  my  spear,  and  ran  toward  the  gorge. 

Night,  the  old  woman  in  the  cave  in  the  gorge,  told  me 
afterward  what  happened  to  her.  The  hungry  leopard 
had  strained  at  its  leash  until  the  thong  about  its  neck  had 
parted,  and  in  an  instant  it  had  crouched  for  a  spring  at 
her  throat.  She  had  seen  it  in  time,  and  had  caught  up  a 
spear,  and  had  screamed  shrilly;  and,  whatever  the  cause, 
the  leopard  had  turned  its  head,  and  then  leaped  from  the 
cave  out  into  the  open. 

She  saw  it  go  down  the  gorge,  and  had  rushed  out  and 
climbed  a  tree,  still  screaming,  to  warn  Three  Toes  and 
Gnawbones,  who,  she  knew,  were  in  a  little  wood  near  at 
hand.  They  came  running,  and  then  also  climbed  trees 
most  hurriedly,  and  added  to  the  noise  with  their  wild 
howling  to  warn  the  Cave  people  below.  That  was  when 


THE  TAMERS  129 

I,  leading  the  others,  came  running  to  the  mouth  of  the 
gorge.  There,  halfway  up  it,  we  saw  the  leopard,  ad 
vancing  downward,  cautious  and  crouching ! 

I  did  not  fear  the  beast.  I  held  my  spear  forward,  and 
neared  the  leopard,  until  we  were  close  together.  With  a 
snarl,  it  leaped  for  me,  and  I  held  my  spear  as  I  had  done 
before  with  a  leopard  I  slew;  but  the  ground  was  sloping 
and  I  slipped  upon  some  pebble,  and  the  spear  just  en 
tered  the  shoulder  of  the  brute,  tearing  outward  through 
the  spotted  skin.  The  leopard  screamed,  almost  as  had 
the  old  woman;  then,  as  it  struck  the  ground,  whirled 
swiftly  and  dashed  up  the  gorge  again.  There  it  paused 
and  sent  up  a  long,  mournful  cry,  such  as  I  had  heard  in  the 
woods  before.  From  the  far  beech  wood  came  an  answer 
—  the  call  of  another  of  its  kind !  It  did  not  stay  longer. 
In  long  leaps  it  went  across  the  open  space  toward  the 
wood,  a  spotted  shadow  against  the  brown  grass,  and  into 
the  forest  where  its  kindred  were. 

And  this  adventure  of  Gnawbones  and  his  people  was 
what  had  made  Black  Bow  laugh  when  I  talked  of  taming 
and  training  other  things  than  the  wolf  dogs.  We  said  no 
more  at  this  time,  but  there  came  a  day  when  he  would 
have  such  fancies  as  had  I.  We  were  led  to  thinking  of 
taming  again  by  a  curious  happening,  and  truly  our  first 
effort  was  no  mean  one,  however  rude  its  ending.  And 
it  was  because  of  a  discovery  of  the  little  children.  There 
came  the  Rope  and  Noose. 

It  was  when  the  leaves  were  beginning  to  turn  yellow, 
that  the  children  stumbled  upon  the  thing.  Little  Round 
Nose  and  Crop  Ear,  the  children  of  Black  Bow,  were 
playing  together  near  where  the  strong  marsh  grass  grew 


130  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

thickest  beside  the  river,  a  little  way  above  the  glen  of 
the  caves  and  the  huts.  They  were  amusing  themselves, 
without  anything  in  mind,  as  children  do,  and  were  merry, 
running  about  here  and  there,  as  do  the  young  of  the  wild 
things,  chattering  and  digging,  and  throwing  stones  into 
the  shallow  water,  and  watching  the  little  fishes  as  they 
darted  away  affrighted.  They  tired  at  last,  and  seated 
themselves  in  the  long  grass  where  it  was  dry,  and  began 
pulling  it  up  by  the  roots,  and  playing  with  it  idly.  Little 
Crop  Ear  laid  some  of  the  long  blades  together;  and  not 
knowing  what  she  did,  only  fumbling  with  her  fingers  at  a 
root  bearing  three  blades,  began  laying  them  one  over  the 
other.  She  did  this  for  quite  a  space  of  time,  and  then 
shrieked  out  in  delight  upon  seeing  that  the  strands  re 
mained  together  in  a  flat  green  braid.  She  kept  up  the 
wonderful  task  until  the  whole  length  of  the  grass  was 
braided,  and  then  did  not  know  what  to  do.  She  pulled 
more  grass,  and  tried  to  braid  it  in  with  what  she  already 
had,  but  could  not  do  it  for  a  time.  But  she  was  a  stub 
born  and  persistent  child,  and,  it  may  be,  had  some  nat 
ural  gift  at  such  a  thing,  just  as  some  of  the  boys  have  in 
the  stone-chipping,  and  at  last  she  discovered  a  way  of 
interlacing  and  plaiting  in  the  new  grass,  and  making  the 
green  blade  longer. 

Then  all  went  well  with  her;  and,  when  she  returned  to 
the  cave,  she  carried  proudly  with  her  the  long,  slender, 
three-stranded  cord.  After  they  had  eaten,  Black  Bow 
took  the  string  from  the  child,  and  began  playing  with  it, 
and  testing  its  strength.  He  wondered  at  it.  He  had 
not  thought  that  the  marsh  grass  so  plaited  could  be  so 
strong.  He  called  to  me,  and  I  went  to  his  cave,  and 


THE  TAMERS        -•/          131 

we  considered  the  thing  together.  Why  could  we  not  use 
this  queer  device  to  bind  things  together,  as  we  used  the 
twisted  sinews  of  the  wild  creatures  we  had  killed?  We 
learned  from  the  child  how  to  plait  the  tough  grass,  as  did 
the  women  of  the  clan;  and  henceforth,  because  of  these 
cords,  a  new  convenience  existed  in  the  huts  and  caves. 

The  only  fault  with  the  marsh-grass  cord  was  that, 
tough  as  it  was,  it  was  not  quite  strong  enough  for  many 
uses  to  which  it  might  be  put.  "If  it  were  only  bigger," 
said  Black  Bow  to  me  as  we  talked  of  the  matter;  and 
then,  all  at  once,  there  came  to  him  a  great  thought.  If 
three  of  the  strands  of  the  marsh  grass  could  be  braided  so, 
why  could  not  three  of  the  cords  already  made  be  plaited 
in  the  same  way,  and  so  on  to  any  size?  We  worked  to 
gether,  and  when  the  sun  went  down  that  night  we  held  in 
our  hands  a  great  braid  —  one  he  and  I  could  not  break, 
though,  each  taking  one  end,  we  strained  against  it  with 
all  our  force.  We  owned  a  rope  of  might.  And  other 
ropes  we  made  —  some  from  the  inner  bark  we  peeled 
from  the  linden  tree;  but,  in  the  end,  the  marsh  grass 
proved  the  best. 

It  was  queer,  but  always,  it  seems  to  me,  when  one 
good  thing  is  found,  there  comes  another.  It  may  be  it  is 
because  the  first  one  makes  us  think. 

There  was  much  use  for  our  ropes.  We  could  tie  our 
boats  to  the  bank  with  them,  needing  no  longer  always  to 
drag  the  craft  ashore;  huts  could  be  bound  about  with 
them  to  resist  the  wind  storms  better;  and  there  were 
many  other  uses  for  them.  Then  came  the  last  and  great 
est  thing,  for  which  I  gave  Black  Bow  much  credit. 

In  Black  Bow's  cave  were  always  ropes,  for  Humpback 


132  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

had  learned  to  make  them  strong,  ever  getting  the  long 
est  and  best  of  the  grass,  and  plaiting  carefully  and  deftly, 
and  they  sufficed  to  buy  much  fish,  flesh  and  skins,  and 
so  lessened  the  labours  of  Black  Bow  and  Loon.  A  rare 
creature  was  Humpback. 

It  was  one  night,  after  looking  at  a  new  rope  Humpback 
had  finished,  that  Black  Bow,  handling  it  idly,  stuck  one 
end  of  the  rope  through  a  loop  he  had  made  at  the  other 
and  sat  holding  the  end  in  his  hand,  while  the  opening 
in  the  rope  coil  lay  on  the  floor.  He  chanced  to  rise  just 
as  little  Crop  Ear,  running  across  the  cave  floor,  stepped 
into  it.  The  rope  came  up  suddenly,  and  closed  about 
Crop  Ear  beneath  her  arms.  She  was  a  prisoner!  She 
had  stepped  into  the  first  noose,  and  it  had  risen  and  tight 
ened  about  her!  There  were  yells  and  laughter  in  the 
cave,  and  others  were  caught  as  they  walked  across  the 
floor,  or  were  lassoed  with  the  loop  thrown  over  their 
heads,  and  there  was  much  sport  there.  And  the  next 
day,  as  we  sat  upon  our  little  rock  together,  as  was  our 
custom  after  the  hunting  or  the  fishing,  Black  Bow  told  me 
of  the  noose,  and  later  we  talked  again  of  the  taming,  and 
then  the  thought  of  the  two  things  came  together! 

If  the  noose  at  the  end  of  a  rope  could  entrap  and  hold  a 
child  or  a  man,  why  could  it  not  as  well  tighten  upon  and 
hold,  alive  and  unharmed,  any  of  the  wild  creatures,  and 
why  could  we  not  thus  capture  them,  and  tame  them? 
We  reasoned  long,  and  finally  came  upon  a  great  resolve. 
We  would  lay  the  noose,  and  hide  ourselves,  and  capture 
a  wild  doe,  and,  it  might  be,  tame  her,  as  the  wild  dogs  had 
been  tamed;  for  we  did  not  reason  at  that  time  that  it  is 
only  the  young  of  the  wild  things  that  can  be  tamed. 


THE  TAMERS  133 

There  was  a  path  through  the  brushwood  leading  from 
the  forest  to  the  plain,  along  which  many  of  the  deer,  and 
often  other  creatures,  were  accustomed  to  pass  to  their 
feeding  grounds,  and  there,  we  said,  we  would  first  place 
the  gripping  noose  thing,  and  lie  in  wait  together.  So, 
for  days,  Humpback  worked  upon  the  plaiting  of  a  rope  at 
least  seven  times  the  length  of  a  man,  and  very  strong, 
with  a  loop  for  the  noose  made  at  one  end,  and  with  it 
Black  Bow  and  I  went  forth  together,  to  what  happening 
we  could  not  guess.  It  was  late  in  the  afternoon,  and  al 
ready  the  dusk  was  coming  when  we  laid  the  noose  in  the 
pathway,  and  crouched  hidden  behind  the  little  bushes 
near,  with  the  other  end  of  the  rope  wound  about  both  our 
bodies,  that  we  might  pull  together,  and  so  be  more  cer 
tain  of  our  capture.  We  did  not  have  long  to  wait.  There 
came  a  thudding,  there  was  a  rough  brushing  aside  of  the 
bushes  along  the  pathway,  and  a  great  hoof  was  planted 
in  the  noose.  Black  Bow  and  I  threw  ourselves  backward 
with  all  our  force,  and  drew  the  strong  rope  taut. 

Of  what  happened  then,  neither  Black  Bow  nor  I  could 
afterward  remember  with  great  clearness.  There  was  a 
thundering  bellow,  a  rush  down  the  pathway  toward  the 
open,  and  we  who  were  seeking  the  capture  of  a  gentle  doe 
were  torn  from  our  hiding  place  in  the  thicket,  and  car 
ried  sliding,  bounding,  and  hurtling  away  toward  where 
were  the  rolling  pastures  of  the  eaters  of  grass.  Our 
noose  was  gripping  the  hind  legs  of  a  great  bull  aurochs, 
mightiest  creature  of  the  plain,  perhaps  the  one  the  wolf 
dogs  had  annoyed. 

Even  such  huge  beast,  fearing  little,  was  panic-stricken 
with  that  fearful  thing  grasping  it. 


134  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

Clumsily,  because  so  hampered,  and  still  bellowing,  floun 
dering  rudely  across  the  billowy  prairie,  the  great  brute 
plunged  along;  and  now  dragged  through  the  swift  face- 
cutting  grass,  now  bounced  from  hummock  to  hummock,  we 
were  hurled  along  furiously  at  the  end  of  the  rope.  I  cannot 
forget  it,  though  it  is  not  good  to  remember.  The  rope  was 
about  us  both ;  and  as  we  tore  through  weeds  and  brush,  we 
bumped  and  bounded,  and,  coming  to  earth  again,  some 
times  Black  Bow  would  be  atop,  and  sometimes  I,  though 
which  of  us  was  being  bruised  most  fearfully  could  not 
be  told.  Once  we  tore  through  the  top  of  a  fallen  thorn 
tree,  and  there  was  blood  upon  our  faces  then.  The  rope, 
it  seemed  to  me,  was  cutting  us  in  twain,  but  I  could  not 
think  at  the  time  save  in  a  dim  way,  that  Black  Bow  and 
I  were  going  to  our  death.  Then  came  what  was  a  little 
less  terrible.  The  aurochs  was  rushing  along  now  where 
the  plain  was  more  even  of  surface,  and  we  were  dragged 
smoothly  through  the  grass,  and  at  a  lesser  pace,  for  the 
strain  was  telling  upon  even  so  powerful  an  animal. 
Something  must  come  soon,  though,  or  there  would  be 
two  dead  men  at  the  end  of  the  rope.  It  came,  and  saved 
our  lives. 

There  was  in  the  way  of  the  aurochs  a  little  gully,  and 
this  he  sought  to  leap  in  his  blundering  and  hindered 
flight.  His  hind  leg,  drawn  backward  by  the  weight  at 
the  end  of  the  rope,  crippled  him  in  the  effort,  and  he 
swerved,  stumbled,  and  rolled  down  upon  his  back  into 
the  depression.  He  was  helpless  for  the  moment  in  this 
struggle;  and  that  moment  we  made  the  most  of,  bruised 
and  bleeding  as  we  were,  though  not  insensible.  There 
was  a  little  slack  in  the  rope  now:  and,  since  one  of  our 


THE  TAMERS  135 

knives  still  remained  in  its  pouch,  we  slashed  the  rope  be 
tween  us  and  the  aurochs,  and  then  the  coil  about  us.  It 
was  hard  getting  to  our  feet;  but  soon  a  little  strength 
came,  and  we  ran  weakly  together  toward  the  village,  for 
we  did  not  know  but  the  enraged  aurochs,  which  was 
floundering  from  the  gully  now,  might  do  us  harm.  It 
was  a  weary  journey;  and  when  we  reached  our  homes  and 
laid  down  on  our  skin  couches,  there  was  dried  blood  upon 
us,  and  many  blue  spots  upon  our  skins.  We  cared  no 
longer  for  the  rope  and  the  noose,  and  said  that  we  would 
no  more  seek  to  entrap  the  wild  things  with  it;  but  that 
was  foolish.  We  spoke  thus  because  we  were  sore,  and 
our  stomachs  weak  within  us.  It  was  not  in  us  to  forget 
the  noose ! 

Humpback  came  to  me,  and  upon  my  hurts  bound 
chewed  wet  roots  and  leaves,  of  which  she  knew,  and 
which  cooled  me,  and  very  soon  I  was  myself  again,  for 
there  were  no  broken  bones,  and  we  strong  men  minded 
little  such  mauling  as  had  come  to  Black  Bow  and  me. 
But,  as  Humpback  was  doing  this,  I  saw  a  face  at  the 
door,  and  it  was  the  face  of  Dark  Eyes,  and  I  liked  it  not, 
for  the  red  lips  were  drawn  tightly,  and  the  teeth  showed. 
I  did  not  like  it,  nor  the  glint  in  her  great  eyes.  Then  I 
looked  up  into  the  eyes  of  Humpback,  and  they  were  soft, 
and,  somehow,  curing.  I  do  not  know  how  eyes  could  be 
curing;  but  so  seemed  the  eyes  to  me,  and  I  liked  them 
much.  Long  I  thought  then,  and  there  came  to  me  a 
great  resolve.  Humpback  should  come  to  me  in  my  cave, 
and  be  my  wife.  Too  long  had  I  been  alone. 

The  hump  on  her  back  lifted  her  little  skin  coat  into  a 
hummock,  like  that  on  the  back  of  the  young  aurochs, 


r 


136  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

only  that  it  stood  out  still  more  clearly,  and  she  was  short, 
though  she  was  not  squat,  as  I  had  once  seen  another 
humpbacked  woman.  She  stooped  hardly  at  all,  and  was 
slender  and  quick  of  movement,  and  knew  well  how  to 
do  all  the  things  the  mate  of  the  hunter  should  do,  and  I 
knew  that  she  would  prove  obedient  and  faithful.  It  was 
true  that  the  naked  children  of  the  glen,  and  even  some 
of  the  men  and  women,  sometimes  pointed  at  the  hump, 
and  cried  aloud,  and  laughed.  But  what  could  that  mat 
ter?  They  would  point  no  longer  when  she  came  to  my 
cave,  for  my  cuff  was  heavy;  and  as  for  the  men  —  well, 
they  knew  my  arm.  So  I  called  to  Black  Bow  —  for  it  is 
not  my  way  to  wait  when  I  have  resolved  —  and  we  sat 
together  upon  our  favourite  big  flat  stone,  and  debated 
long.  Truly  Black  Bow  was  in  a  stubborn  mood  that 
night. 

I  told  him  that  I  wanted  Humpback  for  my  mate,  and 
that  she  must  come  to  my  hut;  and  he  rose  up  and  roared 
that  it  should  not  be;  that  she  it  was  who  did  most  of  the 
labour,  and  that  he  would  not  part  with  her,  though  we 
were  friends,  and  fished  and  hunted  together,  and  were 
ready  to  fight  each  for  the  other,  either  against  beast  or 
man.  His  words  did  not  change  me.  Perhaps  they  made 
me  but  have  a  greater  desire  for  the  woman  who  was  so 
different  from  others,  and  my  blood  ran  wild,  and  my 
anger  rose  at  being  thwarted,  and  I  not  only  cajoled,  but 
threatened,  the  man  who  had  been  my  close  companion. 
I  told  him  that  I  would  give  him  the  best  of  my  furred 
skins,  and  that  I  would  bring  much  meat  to  his  cave,  and 
that,  though  we  lived  apart,  we  would  be  almost  as  one 
family,  and,  finally,  he  consented,  it  may  be  because  of 


THE  TAMERS  137 

the  look  on  my  face,  which  he  knew  left  him  no  choice; 
and  why  should  there  be  a  fight  between  us,  who  had  been 
friends  so  long  ?  So  that  matter  was  settled,  and  we 
thought  of  other  things,  and  laughed  and  talked  once  more 
of  the  noose  and  the  taming.  And  of  that  talk  came  many 
happenings,  and  great  ones. 

We  had  been  made  wiser  because  of  our  adventure  with 
the  aurochs  bull,  and  our  memory  of  what  followed  the 
affair  of  Gnawbones  and  the  wood  leopard.  We  saw  that 
we  must  seek  the  capture  only  of  the  grass-eaters,  and 
among  these  the  ones  which  were  weak  enough  to  be  over 
come  in  any  struggle.  Only  the  smaller  beasts  could  we 
wisely  or  safely  take,  or,  even  better,  the  young  of  the 
greater  ones.  We  agreed  upon  that.  Then,  so  interested 
in  our  fancy  did  we  become,  that  we  planned  for  another 
trial.  What  came  of  that  made  life  better  for  me. 

There  remained,  even  in  this  region,  some  of  the  little 
horses  which  had  formerly  been  abundant,  as  I  had  known 
from  the  scarred  bones  which  lay  deep  on  the  floors  of 
caves  in  many  hillsides.  They  were  the  bones  of  horses 
eaten  by  the  Cave  men  of  the  past,  and  bore  the  marks  of 
their  strong  teeth.  Other  bones  there  were,  and  in  some  of 
the  caves  marks  on  the  stone  walls  showed  that  they  were 
rude  pictures  of  these  same  horses.  And,  as  I  have  said, 
there  were  scattering  herds  of  them  left;  and,  after  long 
toil,  we  decided  that  we  would  capture  a  wild  horse. 

Strong  was  the  rope  that  Humpback  plaited,  and  smooth 
and  free  was  the  noose  at  the  end;  and  then,  with  food  in 
our  skin  pouches,  we  went  a  day's  journey  to  where  we 
knew  the  creatures  we  sought  fed  in  the  valleys  of  the 
high  hills.  A  night  we  slept  there,  and  in  the  afternoon 


138  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

of  that  day  we  saw  a  herd  of  the  little  horses  feeding  slowly 
toward  us  down  the  narrow  valley.  Rich  was  the  grass, 
but  here  and  there  throughout  the  valley's  narrowest  part 
great  rocks  had  fallen  down  from  the  heights,  or  had  been 
rolled  down  in  some  ancient  flood ;  and  behind  one  of  these 
we  crouched,  having  first  laid  the  open  noose  hidden  in 
the  grass  some  yards  away.  Should  the  herd  feed  near 
the  rock,  surely  some  one  horse  would  find  its  feet  within 
the  snare.  So  we  waited  long,  but  nevertheless  patiently, 
for  this  was  a  great  undertaking. 

Slowly  the  herd  came  on,  and  finally  approached  so 
near  us  that  we  no  longer  dared  thrust  forth  our  heads  to 
note  its  progress.  Finally  its  leader,  a  brown  stallion, 
passed  at  some  distance,  while  the  herd  fed  scatteringly 
behind  him.  Then  we  saw,  with  delight,  that,  approach 
ing  so  that  she  would  pass  not  far  from  the  rock,  was  a 
mare  with  a  little  colt  beside  her.  Ah !  could  we  but  cap 
ture  her!  We  remained  as  motionless  as  the  great  rock 
beside  us,  our  hands  gripping  the  rope,  and  our  feet  braced 
firmly.  The  slight  wind  blew  toward  us,  and  our  scent 
would  not  reach  the  horses,  and  so  they  fed  on,  unknowing. 
Nearer  and  nearer  came  the  mare,  and  at  last  she  placed 
a  fore  foot  fairly  within  the  noose.  I  jerked  the  rope 
fiercely,  the  noose  came  up  and  closed  upon  the  mare's 
leg  tightly  and  fairly  just  above  the  knee;  and,  as  she 
leaped,  we  clutched  the  rope  with  a  shout,  and  leaned 
backward  with  all  our  might. 

The  herd,  led  by  the  stallion,  broke  into  flight,  and  was 
unseen  in  a  moment  as  it  swept  around  a  turn  in  the  val 
ley.  Only  the  mare  and  her  frightened  colt  remained, 
but  with  the  mare  we  had  all  we  could  do.  She  was  but 


THE  TAMERS  139 

a  little  horse,  and  we  were  two  great  men;  but  with  her 
first  leap  she  pulled  us  from  our  feet,  and  it  seemed  that 
she  might  finally  get  away. 

The  struggle  was  long,  but  at  last  the  desperate  creature 
wearied  of  her  leapings,  and  stood  still,  shuddering.  We 
tried  to  approach  her;  but  she  began  leaping  again  in  her 
wild  terror,  and  so  threw  herself,  lying  with  her  head  down 
a  little  slope,  and  unable  easily  to  regain  her  feet.  We 
rushed  in  upon  her,  and  pressed  her  head  to  the  ground, 
and  she  was  helpless.  She  lay  very  still,  but  all  the  time 
the  young  colt  stumbled  about,  calling  and  whinnying  in  a 
weak  way.  What  should  we  do? 

The  dogs  we  had  often  tied  or  led  by  a  cord  about  the 
neck,  so  fastening  it  that  it  would  not  slip  and  strangle 
them,  and  why  could  we  not  do  the  same  thing  with  the 
horse?  So  we  unloosened  the  pinching  rope  from  her  leg, 
and  tied  the  other  end  of  it  about  her  neck,  so  that  it 
would  not  hurt  her,  but  would  not  slip  over  her  head,  and 
then  helped  her  to  her  feet  again.  She  struggled  more  and 
more,  but  she  was  tired  and  heartbroken  now,  and  at  last 
we  started,  leading  her  to  the  glen,  the  colt  following  us 
clumsily. 

Great  was  the  clamour,  and  wild  the  shouting,  when, 
the  next  day,  Black  Bow  and  I  came  into  the  glen,  leading 
the  little  wild  mare,  very  wearied  and  tame  now,  and 
followed  by  the  little  colt,  which  could  hardly  walk. 
There  was  much  debate,  and  finally  it  was  decided  to 
build  a  wall  across  a  wide  ravine  which  ran  into  the  glen, 
not  far  from  the  huts,  and  another  wall  across  its  foot, 
and  there  leave  our  captives,  where  they  would  have 
abundant  food  and  water,  and,  it  might  be,  thrive  as  well 


140  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

as  over  the  broader  plain.  All  this  was  done,  and  the 
mare  became  fat  and  more  tame,  and  the  colt  grew  swiftly, 
and  was  played  with  by  the  children.  It  was  a  great 
achievement,  and  one  much  to  the  credit  of  Black  Bow 
and  me.  But  with  the  capture  of  these  two  the  enter 
prise  did  not  end.  There  were  others  of  the  glen  as  wise 
and  daring  as  we,  and  these  also  finally  caught  wild  horses 
with  noosed  ropes,  and  at  last  we  had  in  the  pasture  in  the 
fenced  valley  a  herd  which  promised  to  become  a  larger 
one.  We  would  have  wild  horses  to  kill  and  eat  in  time  of 
strait,  we  thought;  but  then  a  curious  thing  happened, 
and  because  of  it  none  of  the  wild  horses  was  killed,  and 
they  were  held  the  greatest  of  our  possessions. 

The  little  colt  grew  amazingly,  and  was  strong  and  a  pet 
of  the  children,  who,  as  soon  as  it  ceased  to  live  upon  its 
mother's  milk,  fed  it  daily  upon  the  tender  grasses,  and 
made  it  as  tame  as  one  of  the  dogs.  Then  one  day  I  saw  a 
sturdy  youth  sitting  astride  its  back,  while  another  led  the 
young  animal  about  by  its  mane.  It  was  an  odd  thing, 
and  it  came  to  me  that  if  the  colt  could  thus  carry  the  boy, 
its  mother  could  as  easily  carry  a  man,  and  I  spoke  of 
this  to  Black  Bow,  who  was  delighted  with  the  thought. 

"We  will  ride  upon  the  mare,"  he  declared. 

And  so  we  put  a  rope  about  the  head  of  the  mare,  and 
Black  Bow  and  I  leaped  upon  the  mare's  back.  Much  she 
bounded  about,  and  would  have  run  away,  but  she  was 
only  a  small  horse,  albeit  strong  and  sturdy,  and  we  clung 
to  her  easily.  At  last  she  tired,  and  then  I  took  a  shorter 
rope,  and  tied  it  about  her  nose,  bringing  it  around  over 
her  neck,  and  fastening  it  again,  so  that  I  could  pull  either 
way,  and  again  got  on  her  back,  and  found  that  I  could 


THE  TAMERS  141 

guide  and  so  drive  her  that  I  could  make  her  carry  me 
whichever  way  I  would.  I  took  her  outside  the  pasture, 
and  rode  her  far  out  upon  the  plain,  and  went  farther  and 
faster  than  I  could  have  gone  alone. 

Henceforth  I  took  her  on  my  hunting,  and  so  reached 
better  fields,  and  brought  my  prey  back  upon  her  shoul 
ders.  It  was  a  thing  unthought  of!  The  horse  had  be 
come  a  part  of  man!  There  could  be  no  other  tribe  like 
ours,  until  others,  too,  should  have  the  horses,  for  soon 
Black  Bow  and  others  of  the  men  had  horses,  and  tamed 
them,  and  we  became  a  swiftly  moving  and  prosperous 
band,  great  in  the  hunting  and  surrounding  and  killing 
of  things  which  before  had  escaped  us. 

And  more  I  see!  Why  may  not  men  some  time  tame 
other  creatures  —  even,  it  may  be,  the  great  urus,  the 
wild  cattle,  if  we  can  catch  them  young,  or  the  wild  hogs 
which  feed  upon  the  acorns  and  beechnuts,  and  the  flesh 
of  which  is  so  savoury  in  the  nostrils,  and  so  tender  and 
sweet  between  the  teeth?  We  are  the  masters,  and  men 
shall  become  very  great ! 

And  ever  still  in  my  mind  was  Humpback,  my  wife,  the 
tender-eyed;  and  though  I  found  game,  and  chased  it,  my 
thoughts  were  still  upon  her,  and  when  it  chanced  that  I 
had  shot  a  young  bustard  I  turned  the  head  of  the  horse 
toward  the  village,  for  I  wanted  to  look  upon  her  again. 
I  had  not  thought  that  a  man  could  so  desire  to  be  with 
some  one  else;  but  I  am  glad  that  the  feeling  came  to  me, 
for  sorely  did  Humpback  need  me  that  day. 

There  is  a  little  flat  island  in  the  great  river  some  half 
a  league  from  the  village,  along  the  shores  of  which  are 
many  clams,  but  which  most  of  the  women  do  not  visit, 


142  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

because  the  current  between  the  sand  strip  and  the  shore 
is  very  swift  and  dangerous.  To  this  island,  seeking 
clams,  Humpback  had  told  me  she  was  going  while  I 
hunted,  and  I  did  not  forbid  her,  for  to  her  the  current  is 
as  nothing,  as  she  swims  as  strongly  and  silently  as  the 
beaver,  and  it  came  to  me  that  the  taste  of  the  clams 
would  be  good  when  I  came  back  to  the  hut. 

To  the  hut  I  went  first,  but  Humpback  was  not  there, 
and  then,  taking  only  my  bow,  I  went  swiftly  to  where  was 
the  island  in  the  river.  Near  it  upon  the  land  was  a 
little  wood,  through  which  I  passed,  and  so  came  out  upon 
the  long  beach,  with  the  island  a  short  bow-shot  away. 
What  I  saw  then  made  me  see  red. 

Upon  the  farther  side  of  the  narrow  sand  strip  which 
made  the  island  lay  Humpback  flat  upon  her  face,  so  that 
only  the  poor  little  hump  upon  her  back  showed  plainly, 
and  from  the  hump  stuck  out  an  arrow.  Upon  the  shore 
stood  Dark  Eyes,  with  her  bow  and  arrows  —  for  she  was 
sure  with  her  bow  —  fitting  another  arrow  to  the  string. 
She  had  followed  Humpback  to  kill  her,  and  had  found  her 
on  the  island  with  no  weapon  and  at  her  mercy.  I  could 
see  it  all.  Humpback  had  thrown  herself  down  at  the 
island's  farther  and  lower  side,  to  avoid  the  arrows,  only 
the  hump  showing,  and  this  the  cruel  markswoman  had 
impaled  at  the  first  shot.  I  strung  my  own  bow  in  a 
moment,  but  roared  aloud  in  my  rage,  which  I  should 
not  by  any  means  have  done.  As  the  sound  struck  her 
ears,  Dark  Eyes  turned  on  the  instant,  then  fled  like  the 
wind  toward  the  forest  near  her.  I  loosed  an  arrow  venge- 
f ully,  but  she  was  already  distant  when  I  shot,  and  I  knew 
that,  though  the  shaft  seemed  to  pierce  her  shoulder,  it 
had  done  her  no  grievous  harm. 


THE  TAMERS  143 

I  threw  aside  my  bow,  and  plunged  into  the  river.  I 
was  soon  at  the  side  of  Humpback,  who  rose  to  her  feet 
as  I  came,  and,  despite  her  hurt,  smiled  up  in  my  face. 
Very  brave  was  Humpback. 

I  turned  her  about,  and  looked  at  the  arrow  in  the 
hump,  and  shouted  for  joy.  The  head  had  passed  through 
but  a  little  beneath  the  skin,  and  she  who  was  my  mate 
was  almost  unharmed.  I  drew  the  arrow  sharply  for 
ward  by  the  head,  and  out,  and  there  remained  but  a 
wound  which  would  soon  be  healed. 

"I  knew  she  would  seek  to  kill  me,"  said  Humpback. 

But  how  she  could  know  such  a  thing  I  could  not  under 
stand.  Woman  can  tell  many  things  of  which  men  know 
nothing. 

So  I  took  Humpback  with  me  to  the  hut,  and  helped 
her  dress  her  wound,  and  all  was  well  again.  I  took  my 
stone  axe,  and  went  into  the  cave  of  Black  Bow,  but  Dark 
Eyes  was  not  there.  I  know  not  what  would  have  hap 
pened  had  I  found  her.  I  had  promised  Humpback  that 
I  would  not  kill  her,  but  I  know  not.  Perhaps  Dark  Eyes 
had  gone  mad,  and  it  was  not  our  custom  to  kill  those  who 
were  mad  and  do  not  know.  Yet  was  I  afraid  of  Dark 
Eyes. 

And  the  season  went,  and  all  was  good.  The  seeds 
were  ripening  in  the  fenced  places,  we  had  captured  more 
horses,  and  the  hunting  was  good;  so  the  bellies  of  the 
little  children  were  plump,  and  there  was  nothing  to  fear 
from  the  winter,  though  the  snow  might  come,  and  the 
game  flee  to  the  southward,  and  the  ice  lie  thick  upon  the 
fishing  places.  It  was  good. 

Better  than  the  acorns,  better  even  than  the  dried  bej> 


144  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

ries,  do  I  like  the  nuts  of  the  beech  tree;  and  Humpback, 
my  mate,  knowing  this,  had  gone  often  to  the  great  beech 
forest  which  lay  far  up  the  river,  and  had  brought  a  store 
of  nuts  for  the  winter.  But  still  more  I  wanted;  and  so 
one  day,  at  the  time  when  the  seeds  were  ripe,  and  the 
nuts  were  nearly  fallen,  I  told  her  to  gather  yet  more  of 
the  beechnuts,  and  went  with  her,  for  sometimes  there 
was  good  hunting  there,  the  grouse  and  bustard  and  the 
wild  hogs  coming  to  eat  the  nuts,  which  they  liked  as  well 
as  I.  The  land  was  high  and  rolling,  and  there  were 
pleasant  open  spaces  down  into  which  the  sun  shone, 
making  them  warm,  but  sometimes  bringing  out  a  little 
brown  snake,  the  bite  of  which  was  deadly. 

These  spaces  had  always  been  avoided  by  Humpback, 
my  wise  mate;  and  as  I  started  to  cross  one  of  them  she 
warned  me,  but  I  only  laughed.  I  was  standing  in  the 
midst  of  the  opening  even  as  she  called  to  me,  and,  even  as 
I  laughed,  I  felt  a  sharp  sting  upon  my  ankle.  I  leaped 
aside,  and,  looking  downward,  saw  one  of  the  terrible 
little  snakes  gliding  away  through  the  thin  grass.  I 
struck  blindly  with  my  bow,  and  broke  its  back,  killing 
it;  but  what  could  that  avail  me?  I  yelled  aloud  in  fear, 
and  ran  to  where  Humpback,  frightened,  was  standing 
beneath  the  trees.  I  told  her  what  had  happened,  and 
she  shrieked  and  put  her  arms  about  me.  So  we  stood 
for  a  little  time,  and  soon  there  came  a  numbness  in  my 
ankle,  where  I  had  been  bitten,  and  then  in  my  leg,  and 
soon  the  deadness  seemed  to  reach  farther  and  farther 
all  over  me,  and  then  came  a  dimness  as  I  drew  closer 
still  to  Humpback,  and  then  all  knowing  passed! 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   DELUGE 

BEES  were  humming  in  my  head,  and  I  did  not  like 
it.     The  humming  hurt  me.     I  opened  my  eyes 
and   passed   my  hand   across  my  forehead  and 
brought  it  away  with  blood  upon  it.     I  began  to  under 
stand  now  the  humming  of  the  bees,  for  I  remembered 
dimly  having  heard  them  hum  in  my  head  at  other  times 
and  of  what  hurt  had  been  the  cause.     I  must  have 
struck  there  heavily.     Yet  all  seemed  strange.     I  looked 
about  me,  and  looked  upon  what,  assuredly,  I  had  never 
seen  before. 

I  was  seated,  I  found,  upon  a  thick  cloak  of  bearskin, 
with  my  back  against  a  rock,  apparently  some  distance 
up  the  slope  of  a  mountainside.  This  slope,  which  had  a 
forest  upon  it  here  and  there,  and  areas  of  dense  thickets, 
fell  toward  the  south  and  west  to  a  wide  lowland  extend 
ing  beyond  the  sight,  and  reaching,  I  thought,  to  the  great 
sea,  for  now,  vaguely,  there  came  a  recollection  of  hap 
penings  close  at  hand,  all,  as  it  seemed,  of  but  an  hour  ago, 
or,  it  might  be,  of  yesterday.  The  sun  was  streaming 
upon  me  warmly  and  my  strength  was  coming  to  me 
slowly.  I  crawled  to  the  side  of  the  rock,  where  I  could 
have  a  view  to  the  north  and  east,  and  saw  what  I  had 
expected;  the  ascent  was  steady  though  irregular  and  con 
tinued  to  a  great  height,  the  forests  gradually  disappear- 

145 


146  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

ing,  while  above,  in  the  far  distance,  rose  bald  ranges. 
All  this  I  saw,  and  it  had  to  me  some  slight  familiarity,  as 
if  I  had  looked  upon  it  before  for  a  little  time.  My  effort 
in  moving  had  been  a  little  too  great  for  me,  and  I  crept 
back  to  my  couch,  where  I  rested  with  closed  eyes.  I 
would  soon  be  myself  again.  Already  the  bees  were  hum 
ming  in  my  head  less  noisily. 

I  even  slept  for  a  time,  and  when  I  awoke  I  felt  stronger. 
I  raised  myself  against  the  rock  and  looked  more  closely 
upon  what  was  near  me.  There  were  objects  which  for  a 
little  time  I  wondered  at,  but  which,  in  the  end,  aided 
my  memory  and,  though  for  a  time  but  partially,  brought 
back  my  understanding. 

Almost  within  my  reach  lay  a  bow  and  a  stone  axe  and 
spear.  They  were  faultless,  and  I  laughed  aloud  when  I 
saw  them.  They  were  wonderful  weapons.  The  bow 
especially  was  surprising.  It  was  of  some  dark  wood  such 
as  I  could  not  then  remember  to  have  seen  before,  and, 
though  shaped  properly  and  with  perfect  symmetry,  was 
so  massive  that  it  seemed  to  me  for  the  moment  that  only 
the  arms  of  the  great  brown  bear  might  bend  it.  Uncon 
sciously,  I  looked  at  my  own  arm  and  felt  myself  compre 
hending  a  little  more.  Dressed  in  bearskin  I  was,  but 
arms  and  legs  were  bare,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  was 
thewed  like  a  bull  of  the  aurochs  herd.  Could  that  mighty 
weapon  be  my  own  bow?  Oddly  enough,  the  powerful 
thing  was  strung,  and  that  troubled  me.  A  bow,  weak  or 
strong,  should  not  be  left  to  strain  itself,  and  surely  such 
a  good  bow  as  this  should  not  be  so  neglected.  It  must 
have  been  dropped  as  it  was  in  the  midst  of  a  fight,  but  it 
was  not  good  for  it  to  lie  thus  tautened,  and  all  my  in- 


THE  DELUGE  147 

stinct  was  to  somehow  release  the  weapon  from  its  strain. 
My  strength,  which  had  gone  from  me  because  of  my  hurt, 
was  fast  returning  now,  and  I  reached  out  and  grasped 
the  thing  which  must  be  so  good  in  the  hands  of  hunter  or 
fighting  man  who  had  the  power  to  use  it.  I  struggled  to 
my  feet  and,  with  my  knee  upon  the  middle  of  the  bow 
and  what  was  a  great  wrenching  effort,  managed  to  un 
string  it.  There  was  no  doubt  about  it!  The  bow  was 
surely  mine!  If,  with  only  a  part  of  my  strength,  I  could 
thus  bend  it,  surely  when  all  myself  I  could  draw  an  arrow 
to  the  head  upon  the  mighty  thing.  What  arrows  they 
were,  too  —  one  lying  upon  the  ground  beside  me  and 
others  in  a  great  skin  quiver,  straight-shafted  and  with 
spearlike  flint  heads  keen  of  edge  and  polished  so  smoothly 
that  they  might,  sent  from  that  bow,  pass  fairly  through 
the  body  of  wolf  or  man  or  reach  the  heart  of  bear  or  urus. 
The  axe  and  spear,  too,  were  as  fine  in  their  way  as  was 
the  bow,  and  their  heads  were  as  keen  of  edge  and  smoothly 
finished  as  were  those  of  the  arrows.  There  showed 
dried  blood  upon  the  edge  of  each,  as  also,  I  found,  upon 
the  flint  knife  in  my  belt,  hafted  into  the  ribbed  part  of  a 
stag's  horn,  and  a  weapon  as  perfect  as  the  others.  Surely 
I  was  well  equipped  for  facing  beast  or  man! 

As  my  strength  came  so  also  did  a  better  perception 
and  a  sudden  compelling  desire  to  learn  who  I  was  and 
where.  I  rose  to  my  feet  again  and  walked  about  a  little, 
albeit  somewhat  unsteadily  at  first.  Then  what  was  lying 
beside  a  clump  of  bushes  at  a  little  distance  attracted 
my  attention,  and  I  moved  toward  it.  Two  dead  men 
were  sprawled  out  there,  one  with  his  head  crushed  in,  the 
other  with  an  arrow  driven  through  his  body  so  fiercely 


148  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

that  its  head  stood  forth.  I  drew  out  the  arrow,  though 
it  came  hardly,  and  saw  that  it  must  be  one  of  mine,  a 
mate  to  the  one  lying  beside  the  rock  and  to  those  in 
the  quiver.  The  crushed  head  of  the  other  body  must 
also  be  my  handiwork,  for  it  was  cloven  downward  to 
between  the  eyes,  and  strong  must  have  been  the  arm  and 
heavy  the  axe  to  shear  through  bone  so  deeply. 

I  considered  the  dead  men  more  carefully.  They  were 
not  men,  one  would  think,  to  greatly  fear.  Their  arms 
and  legs  were  not  strong-muscled  and  their  faces  were 
flat  and  ugly.  Each  was  clad  in  a  single  garment  of  goat 
skin,  belted  about  the  middle,  and  carrying  a  pouch,  to 
gether  with  a  quiver  at  the  hip.  A  broken  spear  lay  beside 
one  of  the  men,  its  head  unpolished  and  its  size  but 
puny  compared  with  that  which  I  now  knew  to  be  mine. 
I  wondered  from  what  strange  tribe  these  men  had  come? 

But  where  was  I?  Who  was  I?  The  puzzle  grew  upon 
me.  Surely  I  had  seen  this  land  before,  though  it  seemed 
to  me  I  had  never  known  it  well.  I  could  have  seen  it 
only  for  a  little  time.  Suddenly  I  turned.  From  behind 
a  huge  group  of  rocks  at  a  little  distance,  but  farther  up 
the  slope,  rose  the  sound  of  voices,  and  it  came  to  me  that 
I  had  heard  those  same  voices  before,  though  I  could  not 
remember  where.  The  voice  of  Black  Bow  was  not  among 
them.  Then  I  thought  of  bushes  and  the  deadly  little 
snakes,  but  here  was  no  such  country.  I  was  lost  again. 

The  blood  was  pulsing  through  my  veins  now;  the  buz 
zing  of  the  bees  in  my  head  had  ceased  entirely  and  I 
could  walk  more  strongly  and  freely.  I  put  on  my  quiver 
with  its  few  remaining  arrows,  thrust  my  axe  into  my  belt, 
restrung  my  bow,  and  with  it  in  one  hand  and  my  spear 


THE  DELUGE  149 

in  the  other,  went  toward  the  rocks  from  behind  which 
came  the  hoarse  but,  somehow,  not  unfamiliar  voices. 
I  need  not  have  made  ready  for  fight.  As  I  turned  at  the 
end  of  the  rocks  and  came  in  sight  of  those  behind  it  there 
rose  a  shout  which  was  not  one  of  threatening,  but  rather 
of  rude  welcome.  The  sight  astonished  me.  There  were 
at  least  a  hundred  men  there,  some  lying  down,  some  wan 
dering  about  or  seated  upon  the  rocks,  while  a  group  of 
them,  those  whose  voices  I  had  heard,  were  gathered  to 
gether  engaged  in  some  debate.  All  were  armed  as  I  was 
and  clad  in  nearly  the  same  manner.  As  I  looked  upon 
their  faces  recollection  came  upon  me  swiftly.  They  were 
my  comrades;  they  were  of  the  wanderers  and  raiders, 
my  own  restless,  often  marauding  tribe,  who  had  come 
from  afar,  facing  perils  all  unknown,  of  fighting  men  or 
fighting  beast,  but  led  on  ever  by  an  instinct  for  plunder 
ing  and  adventure.  We  knew,  as  yet,  no  other  tribe  like 
ours  or  one  of  which  we  were  afraid.  They  were  brawny 
men,  these  brother  tribesmen,  but  among  them  all  was 
none  to  boast  a  front  so  bull-like  nor  of  such  brawn  and 
strength  as  mine.  They  closed  about  me  with  hoarse 
shouts  and  much  laughter. 

"We  left  you  by  the  rock  that  you  might  sleep  a  little 
and  be  strong  again,"  said  one  to  me.  It  was  Old  Horn, 
our  leader,  who  spoke,  a  man  huge  and  gray-headed  and 
gray-bearded  and  rough  of  way  and  to  whom  I  was  as 
his  right  hand  in  the  fighting  or  the  hunting. 

"We  knew  that  you  were  but  stunned.  No  Goatskin 
may  split  such  a  head  as  yours ! " 

I  understood  now;  we  had  fought  again  with  the  Goat 
skins,  as  we  called  them,  from  lack  of  any  other  name,  and 


150  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

because  they  were  clad  in  the  skins  of  goats,  which  crea 
tures  they  must  have  grown  and  bred.  They  were  a 
tribe  of  the  wide  valley  lying  between  the  mountains  and 
the  great  sea,  and  they  had  assailed  us  promptly  when  we 
first  entered  their  borders,  only  a  few  days  before  the 
latest  fight.  They  could  not  match  us  and  we  slew  many 
of  them  and  drove  them  back.  We  had  not  thought  they 
would  attack  us  again,  and  so  had  been  somewhat  careless 
and  were  unprepared  when  they  came  upon  us  in  the  early 
morning.  We  had  beaten  them  back  again  only  after 
a  fierce  struggle  in  which  scores  of  them  had  been  slain 
as  before.  It  was  in  the  midst  of  the  fight  that  I  had  gone 
down  under  the  blow  delivered  by  a  Goatskin  who  had 
come  upon  me  from  behind  and  who  was  speared  a  moment 
later  by  one  of  my  companions.  My  comrades  had  seen 
that  I  was  but  stunned  and  so  had  brought  my  cloak  after 
the  fight  was  over  and  left  me  lying  upon  it  by  the  rock, 
that  I  might  recover  in  the  warmth  of  the  sun.  Little 
knew  we  of  further  help  than  this  to  the  wounded  in 
battle.  They  had  done  for  me  the  best  they  knew,  and 
it  was  enough. 

I  had  no  trouble  in  remembering  all  now,  of  who  we 
were  and  of  our  adventures  and  our  plans.  Far  had  we 
fared  from  the  shores  of  what  was  called  the  Black  Sea  to 
the  northwest,  though  why  such  name  had  been  given 
it  I  could  never  understand,  for  its  waters  were  a  glittering 
blue,  a  blue  like  that  of  the  sky,  only  a  little  deeper.  Our 
entire  tribe  had  come  to  the  sea  from  a  country  still  far 
ther  to  the  northwest,  just  as  our  great  grandfathers,  so 
the  elder  men  told  us,  had  come  from  a  region  many  hun 
dreds  of  leagues  to  the  westward,  where  was  the  mighty 


THE  DELUGE  151 

ocean.  Our  own  tribe  had  come  to  the  southern  shores 
of  the  Black  Sea,  seeking  what  might  be  better  hunting 
and  seeding  grounds  and,  assuredly,  a  warmer  and  more 
pleasant  climate.  Not  that  it  was  very  cold  where  the 
stream,  later  called  the  Danube,  had  its  source  far,  far  to 
the  north  and  west,  and  following  the  banks  of  which  we 
had  taken  our  way,  but  our  tribe  was  ever  restless  and  fol 
lowed  its  own  fancies  as  to  its  abode.  So  we  had  wandered 
until  we  reached  the  sea  and  had  drifted  southward  along 
its  shores  until  we  found  its  southern  shore,  crossing  a 
deep  but  narrow  strait  which  we  thought  must  connect 
it  with  another  larger  sea,  which  we  learned  from  tribes 
we  had  met  lay  still  farther  to  the  south.  This  strait  we  had 
crossed  easily  in  boats  we  made  and  then  were  fairly  on  the 
southern  shore  of  this  sea  called  Black.  Here  was  our 
place;  here  should  our  village  be !  The  climate  was  warm, 
there  were  broad  seeding  grounds  and  much  game  in  the 
forests  and  on  the  plains.  Here  we  established  ourselves, 
and  the  women  sowed  and  reaped  and  there  was  much 
fishing,  and  the  men  hunted  or  went  on  expeditions  of 
venture,  for  we  were  sometimes  raiders. 

There  was  excitement  in  the  hunting.  The  huge  and 
dangerous  beasts  of  the  past  of  which  the  old  men  prattled 
in  the  legends  they  related  were  now  gone,  but  in  this  new 
land  to  which  this  vanguard  of  our  race  had  come  were 
others  which  did  not  exist  in  the  region  from  which  we  had 
come,  and  which  we  soon  learned  to  regard  with  caution. 
There  was  a  monster,  maned  yellow  beast  called  the  lion, 
as  large  almost  as  the  brown  bear  we  feared  in  the  country 
from  which  we  had  come,  and  there  were  leopards  and 
bears  of  a  kind  new  to  us,  and  other  beasts  of  prey  not  to 


A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

be  faced  wisely  single-handed.  But  there  were  deer  in 
abundance,  and  the  wild  ox,  the  urus,  and  the  aurochs, 
and  we  did  not  lack  for  meat.  From  such  a  village  in 
such  a  region  had  come  our  party  which  had  battled  with 
the  Goatskins. 

We  were  but  warriors,  dangerous  raiders,  perhaps  the 
first  among  the  Cave  and  Hut  men,  and  this  long  march  of 
ours  was  the  greatest  we  had  ever  undertaken.  Much  we 
longed  now  for  the  women  and  the  cakes  made  from  the 
crushed  grain,  for  now  we  must  subsist  on  flesh  alone,  and 
such  nuts  and  fruits  as  we  might  find  upon  our  way,  but 
we  sought  more  plunder  before  returning.  Fine  skins  we 
had  taken  and  many  trinkets  such  as  women  delight  in, 
and  such  as  were  sometimes  worn  by  the  fighting  men,  but 
nowhere  had  we  taken  prizes  of  fine  axes  or  spears  or  ar 
row-heads,  for  nowhere  had  we  found  weapons  to  compare 
with  our  own.  We  had  met  no  force  to  equal  us  in  any 
village  we  had  found,  and  the  word  of  our  advance  must 
have  travelled  fast  and  far,  for  many  places  where  men 
lived,  some  in  caves  and  some  in  huts  of  bark,  we  found 
abandoned,  the  people  having  fled  into  hiding  in  the  for 
ests.  Only  these  puny  creatures  of  the  valley  before  us 
had  assailed  us  fairly,  relying  upon  their  numbers,  which 
were  great.  Weak  as  they  were,  they  had  beset  us  some 
what  sorely  and  in  the  two  fights  ten  of  us  had  been  killed 
and  many  others  hurt.  But  we  had  killed  scores  of  the 
Goatskins  and  we  did  not  think  they  would  dare  to  face 
us  again.  After  a  little  rest  we  were  to  go  down  into  the 
valley  and  ravage  it,  and  then,  with  what  we  might  find 
worth  taking,  we  would  return  to  our  own  people  by  the 
sea  and  have  again  the  women  and  the  grain  cakes.  We 


THE  DELUGE  153 

were  joyous  and  boisterous  of  mood  that  day,  feasting 
upon  venison  and  lying  idly  about  where  the  sun  shone 
upon  the  mountainside.  As  for  me,  my  strength  had  all 
returned. 

We  slept  well  that  night,  wrapped  in  our  coats  of  bear 
skin,  while  sentinels  watched  lest  the  Goatskins,  despite  their 
losses,  might  come  upon  us  suddenly,  and  woke  to  a  morn 
ing  as  bright  as  I  had  ever  seen.  The  sun  blazed  fiercely 
down  and  by  noontime  it  became  so  hot  that  we  sought  the 
shade  of  the  rocks,  where  we  lay  panting.  There  had  been 
a  little  wind  in  the  morning,  but  this  had  died  away  and 
the  leaves  upon  the  bushes  did  not  move.  All  the  world 
was  still  as  the  dead,  and,  as  the  sun  dropped  toward  the 
west,  it  seemed  to  change  from  golden  to  almost  red. 
The  air  became  strangely  heavy  and  was  hard  to  breathe. 
The  sky  was  clear,  save  where,  far  to  the  south  and  west,  a 
cloud  hung  low  on  the  horizon.  It  was  lighted  from  above; 
but  low  down,  close  to  what  were  the  waters  of  the  sea, 
there  ran  along  it  a  strip  of  darkness.  All  was  strange  and 
it  affected  our  minds,  though  very  great  must  be  the  real 
danger  to  alarm  such  reckless  men  as  we.  We  had  never 
felt  such  curious  dread  before,  and  became  the  more  fear 
ful  because  we  could  not  tell  the  reason  of  it  to  ourselves. 
Then  followed  what  was  more  alarming.  There  came  a 
tremor  to  the  ground  beneath  our  feet,  as  if  it  were  alive, 
then  suddenly  it  heaved  and  rocked.  Three  times  this 
happened  swiftly,  as  we  leaped  for  our  weapons  and  other 
gear  and  ran  together  out  into  a  great  open  space,  to 
await  whatever  might  come  to  us,  and  it  was  well  that  we 
did  so!  The  whole  earth  suddenly  lifted  and  sank  again 
and  the  huge  rocks  beside  which  we  had  rested  and  those 


154  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

above  them  were  heaved  upward  from  their  beds  and 
went  crashing  down  the  slope  of  the  mountainside,  though 
we  escaped  them  all.  At  the  same  time,  from  the  west 
ward,  came  the  sound  of  such  bursting  explosion  and  such 
thundering  and  appalling  roar  as  surely  man  had  never 
heard  before ! 

The  world  above  was  changing.  In  a  moment,  as  it 
seemed,  the  white  cloud  in  the  sky  low  down  to  the  west 
ward  had  climbed  halfway  up  the  heavens,  shining 
gloriously  at  its  crest,  while  from  its  base,  climbing  even 
more  swiftly  and  eating  up  the  whiteness  as  some  monster 
might  devour  its  prey,  the  black  cloud  followed.  Upward 
it  rushed  until  it  hid  the  sun,  and  deep  gloom  followed  the 
brightness.  There  came  another  awful  roar  to  the  west 
ward  and  then  another,  and  then  the  rocking  of  the  earth 
grew  less.  Still  the  black  cloud  kept  towering  and  climb 
ing  until  it  overhung  us  and  still  rushed  on  until  all  the 
sky  was  blotted  out  and  we  were  left  in  almost  utter 
darkness.  Then  came  what  threatened  us  with  sudden 
death! 

The  heavy  air  had  been  given  a  new  quality,  a  surcharge 
of  sulphurous  fumes  in  which  we  gasped  for  life,  hiding  our 
heads  in  our  skin  cloaks.  For  some  time  this  lasted,  but 
finally  there  came  some  abatement  to  the  suffocation  and 
we  breathed  more  freely. 

The  ominous  darkness  continued,  but,  though  we  could 
not  see,  we  knew  that  something  was  happening  all 
around  us.  There  were  fearsome  cries  and  a  thousand 
strange  sounds  which  were  frightening  because  we  could 
not  understand  them.  Then  came  a  sudden  opening  in 
the  gray  pall  above  us  —  caused,  it  may  be,  by  some  whirl- 


THE  DELUGE  155 

wind  of  the  sky  —  and  the  sunlight  streamed  down  for 
a  few  moments.  We  saw  now  whence  came  the  sounds! 

The  world  seemed  full  of  living  things  fleeing  in  wild 
terror  before  approaching  evil.  The  earth  was  crowded 
with  the  desperate  fugitives;  the  sky  above  was  filled  with 
thousands  of  them.  Showing  against  the  briefly  lightened 
clouds,  screaming  their  different  cries,  were  an  innumer 
able  host  of  seafowl  sweeping  over  us  in  whirling  flight, 
and,  as  they  neared  the  mountain,  streaming  away  by  some 
common  instinct  in  a  great  mass  toward  the  northwest, 
seeking,  it  might  be,  the  shores  of  the  sea  from  which  we 
had  come.  There  were  vultures  and  eagles  among  them, 
but  these  seemed  to  be  flying  straight  ahead  toward  the 
mountain-tops.  It  was  a  marvellous  and  dreadful  flight. 

But  strange,  impressive  and  alarming  as  was  the  flight 
of  the  birds,  it  was  nothing  to  what  was  happening  on  the 
earth  beneath.  Here  was  an  exhibition  of  mortal  terror 
close  at  hand.  There  was  no  limit  to  it.  All  the  beasts 
of  the  region,  great  and  small,  were  coming  toward  us  in 
a  wild  and  senseless  tide.  A  great  stag,  with  his  does, 
swept  by  us  like  the  wind,  and  next  a  thundering  urus; 
then,  strangest  of  all,  came  four  lions  together  in  long  leaps 
—  the  country  was  full  of  them  —  straight  toward  us  and 
regarding  us  not  at  all!  Over  the  heads  of  some  of  us 
they  leaped  and  were  gone  in  a  moment.  It  was  this 
happening,  I  think,  which  most  affected  us  and  gave  us  a 
greater  sense  of  fear  for  ourselves.  And  so  the  terrible 
flight  continued.  Leopards,  wild-cats,  all  the  beasts  of 
prey,  and  all  the  harmless  animals,  they  came  in  a  rush 
ing  army,  whole  herds  of  deer  and  flocks  of  goats,  and  all 
the  grazing  things,  and  the  little  creatures  of  the  wood  and 


156  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

plain.  But  among  all  this  horde  of  fugitives  there  were 
no  men.  Where  were  the  Goatskins?  I  could  not  under 
stand  it,  until  I  remembered  that,  perhaps  a  league  to  the 
south  of  us,  there  rose  in  the  plain  a  solitary  high  moun 
tain.  To  this  must  have  fled  such  of  the  tribe  as  perceived 
their  danger  in  time.  It  was  a  cone-shaped  mountain 
with  no  great  area  at  its  summit.  What  scenes,  I  thought, 
must  be  there  now ! 

And  then,  even  while  the  sun  still  shone  through  the 
cloud-rift,  came  something  which  made  this  flight  of  bird 
and  beast  as  nothing,  for  swift  death  seemed  certain  for 
us.  From  the  south  came  such  a  roar  of  waters  as  never 
could  have  been  heard  before  or  since,  a  roar  which  did 
not  cease  and  but  grew  louder  and  more  full  of  dreadful 
menace  every  moment.  Then  we  saw!  Looming  almost 
mountain  high,  raging  white  at  its  top,  a  mountainous 
wave  reaching  across  the  whole  valley  and  appearing  cer 
tain  to  engulf  us !  It  came  toweringly  and  roaringly .  It 
broke  upon  the  mountainside  with  such  stunning  thunder 
as  I  may  not  describe,  arid  swept  upward,  carrying  back 
with  its  terrific  force  even  some  of  the  rocks  the  earth 
quake  had  cast  downward. 

Then,  after  a  few  moments,  the  waters  receded  some 
what,  but  not  greatly,  for  another  vast  wave  loomed  in 
the  far  distance.  And  then,  as  suddenly  as  it  had  come, 
the  opening  in  the  sky  was  closed,  and  we  were  again  in 
darkness.  But  no  longer  about  us  was  the  sound  of 
fleeing  things. 

We  had  sped  upward  when  we  saw  the  coming  of  the 
monster  wave,  but  it  did  not  quite  reach,  even  with  its 
surging  wash,  the  spot  where  we  had  been,  for  we  were 


THE  DELUGE  157 

well  up  the  mountain,  and  now  we  returned  and  gathered 
together  all  we  had  and  carried  it  a  long  way  higher.  Then 
came  the  thundering  of  wave  after  wave  against  the  moun 
tainside,  but  none  so  terrifying  as  the  first,  and,  finally, 
these  ceased  and  we  concluded  they  were  done;  there  was 
only  the  roaring  and  washing  of  a  turbulent  sea  upon  the 
steep  and  rocky  shore.  Leaving  a  few  men  on  guard  to 
rouse  us  if  need  be  we  lay  down  and  tried  to  sleep.  Rain 
fell  in  torrents,  but  to  us,  hardened  as  we  were,  that  was 
nothing.  It  was  what  had  come  with  the  dreadful  day  that 
had  shaken  all  of  us.  Fearless  or  dull  and  stupid  must 
have  been  the  man  among  us  who  slept  well  that  night! 

Morning  came,  but  with  it  little  of  the  light  of  day, 
though,  as  our  eyes  became  accustomed  to  the  gloom,  we 
could  make  out  objects  indistinctly.  The  rain  continued 
to  fall  in  a  torrent,  and  this  made  seeing  things  still  more 
difficult.  All  was  nearly  still  on  land;  there  was  no  sound 
save  that  of  the  lashing  waters  of  the  new  sea  and  the 
splashing  of  the  rain.  I  stumbled  down  to  the  shore,  as 
commanded  by  Old  Horn,  and  looked  about  me  as  well  as 
I  could.  There  was  little  to  see  or  learn  except  that  the 
waters  had  risen  steadily  during  the  night.  There  were 
bodies  of  drowned  creatures  left  by  the  first  great  wave, 
lying  about  here  and  there,  and  that  was  all.  The  day 
passed  in  dread  discomfort. 

The  next  morning  showed  the  water  still  rising,  while 
there  was  no  abatement  of  the  tremendous  rain,  and  so 
with  the  day  succeeding.  The  fearful  downpour  contin 
ued  and  the  waters  still  rose.  Then  came  something 
like  a  panic  among  men  as  fearless  as  any  upon  earth. 
The  dark  waters  beneath  which  lay  such  multitudes  of 


158  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

drowned,  of  man  and  beast,  came  ever  lapping  upward 
hungrily  toward  us,  and  none  could  tell  when  the  rising 
would  cease.  How  we  longed  for  boats,  we  who  could 
handle  boats  so  well !  Then,  in  our  desperation,  we  would 
make  rafts!  The  work  was  begun  at  once.  Driftwood 
tossed  up  by  the  great  tidal  wave  was  dragged  together, 
dead  trunks  lying  further  up  the  mountainside  were 
hacked  into  lengths  and  bound  side  by  side  with  withes 
and  strips  of  skin,  and  the  work  went  forward  feverishly. 
We  had  made  rafts  before.  It  was  good  for  us,  this  work 
with  its  faint  promise,  distracting  our  minds  somewhat 
from  the  perils  we  were  in. 

As  for  myself  I  was  but  a  poor  workman  that  day,  de 
spite  my  strength.  All  appeared  so  dismal  and  so  hope 
less.  The  whole  world  seemed  like  a  bad  dream  and  I  had 
many  thoughts  such  as  had  never  come  to  me  before.  No 
longer  did  I  care  what  might  be  our  plunder  from  this 
raiding  journey  of  the  band  into  unknown  regions.  I 
thought  of  the  clean  sandy  beaches  and  the  pleasant  huts 
by  the  distant  great  sea  and  of  the  people  we  had  left  there, 
and  a  great  desire  came  upon  me  to  be  with  them  again. 
Would  the  waters  never  cease  rising  until  even  the  moun 
tain  was  overwhelmed  and  we  would  have  no  further 
refuge  and  must  die  strangling  at  its  top?  It  seemed  to  me 
then  as  if  it  might  be  so,  though  of  course  the  thought  was 
foolish.  Then  there  came  before  my  eyes  the  face  of  a 
girl  with  a  leaf  of  scarlet  in  her  hair.  The  face  would  not 
go  away  from  me,  the  face  of  Red  Leaf,  as  she  had  come 
to  be  called,  because  in  the  autumn,  when  the  colours  of 
the  leaves  changed,  she  always  gathered  many  of  the 
brightest  and  kept  them  in  a  skin  bag  in  the  hut  of  her 


THE  DELUGE  159 

father  and  mother  and  always  wore  one  braided  some 
where  in  her  hair,  which  was  as  black  as  the  wing  of  the 
raven  or  the  black  panther  of  the  woods,  and  against 
which  the  scarlet  ever  shone  out  brightly. 

She  was  not  tall,  this  girl  of  my  tribe,  not  like  many  of 
the  others,  great-limbed  and  full-bosomed  and  strong  of 
arm  in  pulling  at  the  nets  we  had  learned  to  make  from 
the  tough  inner  bark  of  certain  trees  and  with  which  we 
caught  abundance  of  the  seashore  fishes,  nor  was  she  as 
deft  at  the  trapping  of  small  things,  or  in  the  gathering  of 
nuts  and  fruits,  and,  surely,  she  was  not  a  fitting  mate  for 
such  a  strong  fighting  man  as  I,  but  —  I  could  not  help 
it  —  she  of  the  red  leaf  had  long  been  more  to  me  than  any 
other  of  the  young  women  of  my  clan.  Men  are  but  fool 
ish  with  women  and  unreasoning  as  the  queer  brown  bird 
which  lines  its  nest  with  glittering  things.  But  she  al 
ways  smiled,  this  Red  Leaf,  and  she  was  so  small  and 
slender  and  had  such  eyes,  asking  so  much  and  telling  so 
much,  that  the  fancy  ever  grew  upon  me  that  I  wanted  her 
in  a  hut  of  my  own  that  I  might  but  play  with  her  and 
bring  her  warm  furs  and  feed  her  well.  What  need  had  I, 
Scar,  of  one  of  the  great  woman  creatures  of  my  tribe 
save  for  the  cooking  and  the  making  of  skin  garments? 
And  for  these  things  Red  Leaf  would  suffice,  for,  within 
the  hut,  though  laughing,  she  was  most  diligent.  It  was 
odd  that  my  heart  should  be  bigger  within  me  for  her  than 
for  the  others,  yet  it  may  be  that  it  was  best.  So  have 
I  seen  the  grisly  leader  of  the  wolf  pack  have  ever  at  his 
side  in  the  running  some  light-hued,  slender  she  wolf,  the 
slightest  of  the  yelping  lot.  That  I  cannot  understand; 
I  know  but  that  the  only  face  of  woman  I  saw  upon  the 


160  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

mountainside  was  the  face  of  Red  Leaf.  But  even  this 
face  I  saw  not  all  the  time,  for  there  were  the  waters  and 
we  must  needs  look  to  ourselves. 

Night  found  the  rafts  well  advanced  in  the  building  and 
we  all  felt  more  hopeful.  When  morning  came  it  seemed 
more  like  a  real  daybreak.  I  can  hardly  describe  it,  but 
there  was  an  indefinable  something,  a  feeling  in  the  air 
as  if  a  change  had  come,  a  change  for  the  better,  though 
the  rain  still  fell  in  floods.  Work  was  eagerly  resumed, 
and  as  I  had  been  told  to  do,  I  went  down  the  mountain 
to  the  shore  of  the  sea,  to  note  whatever  the  rise  might 
be  and  went  to  a  great  rock  where  had  been  the  water's 
limit  yesterday,  the  waves  barely  washing  its  base.  I 
could  not  believe  my  eyes!  the  waters  were  receding! 
Between  the  rock  and  the  waves  was  now  a  space  of  yards ! 

I  bounded  up  the  mountainside  to  where  the  band  were 
at  work  upon  the  rafts,  and  yelled  out  what  I  had  seen. 
There  was  a  joyous  answering  roar,  the  stone  axes,  the 
thongs  and  withes,  all  things  in  use,  were  cast  aside,  and 
the  band  streamed  down  together  to  the  shore  to  assure 
themselves  that  I  was  not  mistaken.  Scarcely  had  we 
regained  the  camp  when  came  another  heartening  thing. 
The  rain,  which  had  fallen  in  such  torrents  unceasingly 
for  days  and  nights,  began  to  slacken  and  in  a  little  time 
had  ceased  entirely.  The  vast  leaden  pall  which  had 
hung  over  the  world  began  to  lighten  somewhat,  as  well, 
and  again  we  felt  that  there  was  a  sun  beyond  it.  It  was 
a  new  world,  and  to  us  a  glorious  one ! 

We  could  see  things  far  away  again,  and  we  looked  for 
the  lone  mountain  to  the  south  where  must  be  huddled 
what  few  might  remain  alive  of  the  Goatskins.  It  was 


THE  DELUGE  161 

nearly  submerged.  Its  peak  stood  out  merely  a  little  dot 
on  the  wide  expanse  of  water.  Those  clustered  upon 
it  must  be  assured  that  they  were  the  only  human  beings 
left  alive.  How  the  legend  of  destruction  of  all  other 
mankind  would  go  down  among  them!  How  their  chil 
dren  and  their  children's  children  would  transmit  the  story, 
and  how  the  old  men  of  many  scores  of  centuries  later 
would  repeat  it  to  the  youth!  How  it  would  pass  in  the 
fullness  of  time,  to  generations  more  civilized,  how  the 
Chaldean  priests  would  make  of  it  a  story  of  supernatural 
significance,  to  be  enlarged  by  those  teachings  in  the 
cities  of  clustered  splendour  where  the  Tigris  and  Eu 
phrates  join,  and  how,  finally,  it  would  be  accepted  and 
adapted  by  the  prophets  of  a  great  tribe  of  shepherd  kings, 
whose  petty  battles  would,  perhaps,  become  a  credited  part 
of  the  world's  history.  How,  too,  might  it  become  part 
of  a  mighty  faith  —  a  faith  encompassing  the  world ! 

There  was  a  great  blasted  tree,  not  very  high  but  with 
enormous  outspreading  limbs  extending  dead  and  bare, 
which  stood  not  far  from  the  utmost  limit  of  the  waters, 
and  which  had  become  strangely  peopled  on  the  day  of 
the  earthquake  and  first  tidal  wave,  as  I  had  noticed 
dimly  on  my  visits  to  the  shore.  Tired  in  their  flight  or 
seeking  the  tree  but  as  a  place  of  refuge,  creatures  of  earth 
and  air  had  peopled  it  and  even  sought  shelter  at  its  base, 
unmoving  and  stupefied  throughout  the  days  and  nights 
of  ceaseless  rain  and  darkness.  There  stood  together 
a  stag  and  a  great  brown  bear  each  mindless  of  the  other. 
Upon  the  huge  outspreading  lower  limbs  crouched  half  a 
dozen  more  of  the  leopard  cats  of  the  region  and  as  many 
of  the  sort  of  smaller  bears  which  climb,  and,  above  them 


162  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

scores  of  the  lesser  climbing  things,  while  above  them  still 
perched  wearied  birds  of  many  kinds,  from  those  of  the 
woods  and  fields  to  vultures  and  croaking  ravens.  Bats 
from  the  flooded  caves  hung  dangling  by  hundreds  from 
the  smaller  branches.  It  was  a  black  dream  of  a  tree,  a 
tree  of  life  in  death.  And  now,  it  suddenly  awoke  to  life! 
The  stag  raised  its  head  snortingly  and  went  leaping  up 
the  mountain,  and  the  bear  followed  him  shufflingly, 
followed  in  turn  by  all  the  other  animals.  The  birds  took 
flight;  and  I  watched  this  departure  gladly,  for  it  seemed 
a  proof  that  our  sufferings  were  really  ended.  The  birds 
and  beasts  know  many  things  unknown  to  man. 

But  whence  had  come  this  awful  catastrophe  which  had 
brought  such  tremendous  death  and  changed  a  part  of 
the  face  of  the  earth?  Much  I  thought  upon  it.  Had  the 
fearful  earthquake,  such  as  never  was  before,  but  rent 
apart  the  mountain  chain  between  the  lower  inland  sea 
and  the  great  ocean  to  the  westward  and  so  let  in  the 
mighty  rush  of  water,  raising  the  level  of  the  sea  to  that 
of  the  ocean  itself,  the  ocean  no  man  had  ever  passed  and 
the  awful  limit  of  which  no  man  could  tell?  This  seemed 
to  me  the  reason  of  all  that  had  come,  but  who  could  tell 
assuredly?  The  water  kept  at  an  even  level  now.  It  had 
become  as  it  would  stay.  The  land  of  the  Goatskins  lay 
deep  beneath  its  waters,  and  life  in  this  part  of  the  world 
must  subsist  only  upon  the  higher  plains  to  the  south  and 
east,  the  curtailed  land  of  future  Palestine. 

The  gray  of  the  sky  became  lighter,  the  vast  curtain  parted 
into  floating  clouds,  and  the  radiance  of  the  sun  burst  upon 
the  world  again.  But  upon  what  a  scene  that  radiance  fell ! 

The  sea  was  giving  up  its  dead,  and  upon  its  surface 


THE  DELUGE  163 

everywhere  their  bloated  bodies  rocked  and  swung.  There 
was  not  a  beast  of  all  the  region  whose  carcass  was  not  a 
part  of  the  water's  ghastly  burden,  nor  were  there  the 
bodies  of  beasts  alone!  The  Goatskins,  hundreds  of 
them,  were  coming  to  us  again!  But  the  horror  of  it  all 
was  not  in  the  sight  of  the  bodies  alone.  Thousands  of 
ravens  and  vultures  had  come  to  the  tremendous  feast 
and  the  air  was  vibrant  with  the  beating  of  the  wings  of 
myriads  more  still  flocking  from  all  directions  save  that 
of  the  sea  itself.  They  were  riding  on  the  bodies  and  tear 
ing  at  them,  gorging  themselves.  The  clamour  and  their 
croaking  drowned  out  all  other  sounds.  Close  to  the 
shore  where  I  stood  watching,  a  huge  vulture  rode  on  the 
body  of  a  man,  a  Goatskin,  devouring  at  its  leisure,  and 
so  the  horrible  scene  extended  everywhere.  It  was  a  car 
nival  of  unclean  birds ! 

The  sight  before  us  was  one  not  long  to  be  endured,  even 
by  men  of  such  hardihood  as  made  up  our  wandering  band. 
The  limbs  of  the  lately  beast  and  bird  burdened  tree  were 
now  bare  and  white,  and  as  its  inhabitants  had  fled,  so 
would  we  from  this  dread  region.  We  gathered  our  belong 
ings  together  as  swiftly  as  we  might  and  took  up  our  long 
march,  eager  to  leave  such  land  of  death  and  desolation. 

Easily  did  we  live  as  to  food,  for  the  forests  teemed 
with  game  because  of  the  multitude  of  creatures  driven 
from  the  valley.  There  were  dangers,  too.  I  have  said 
that  it  was  a  region  of  lions.  Now  we  came  upon  them 
everywhere,  restless  and  savage,  so  that  none  of  us  wan 
dered  far  from  the  band  alone.  Yet  one  day,  near  night 
fall,  just  after  we  had  encamped  at  the  foot  of  a  great 
barren  boulder-strewn  slope,!  ventured  up  among  the  rocks 


164  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

alone.  Surely  there  could  be  no  lions  there.  Then,  just 
as  I  turned  about  a  huge  boulder,  I  came  upon  a  great 
maned  monster  face  to  face!  I  could  not  fly,  for  should 
I  attempt  it,  I  knew  he  would  be  upon  me  in  an  instant. 
There  was  nothing  left  to  me  but  to  face  him  as  I  might. 
I  could  crouch  with  the  butt  of  my  spear  planted  in  the 
ground  and  await  the  spring  of  the  monster.  He  crept 
a  little  nearer,  his  eyes  blazing  like  coals,  and  his  body 
held  close  to  the  ground  taut  as  the  string  of  a  bow.  He 
was  within  three  yards  of  me  now.  I  braced  myself  for 
the  coming  shock,  hopeless,  indeed,  but  desperately  re 
solved  to  make  all  of  my  one  slight  chance.  Fear  seemed 
to  have  left  me.  I  counted  myself  as  already  dead,  and 
I  was  filled  with  a  great  rage.  Could  I  hold  the  spear  so 
firmly  and  move  it  with  even  eye  so  well  that  it  would 
impale  him  at  the  climax  of  his  leap,  his  own  weight  doing 
all  the  work  of  a  mighty  thrust?  Calm,  as  fiercely  strained 
as  the  lion  himself,  I  was  now.  Closer  to  the  ground  he 
crouched,  and  then,  with  a  hideous  roar,  he  sprang. 

I  did  not  fail  myself!  Like  a  rock  I  knelt;  braced  and 
with  certain  eye  I  aimed  the  spear  between  the  huge 
forelegs  and  on  the  broad  tawny  breast,  even  in  that 
fraction  of  a  moment  when  the  beast  was  in  the  air  almost 
above  me.  Fairly  in  the  breast  the  spear-head  struck  and, 
with  a  roar  of  beastly  suffering,  the  lion,  impaled,  came 
down  upon  me.  I  was  borne  to  earth  and,  even  as  he 
turned  in  his  agony,  a  stroke  from  his  mighty  paw  crushed 
my  right  arm  at  the  elbow,  the  bones  cracking  sickeningly. 
Then  his  great  jaws  sought  my  throat  to  tear  it.  Never 
again  should  I  gaze  across  our  Northern  Sea;  never  again 
should  I  look  upon  the  face  of  the  slender  Red  Leaf. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  KITCHEN-MIDDENITES 

GREAT  rollers  were  coming  in  upon  what  must  be 
a  rugged  beach,  for  their  clamour  was  appalling. 
Such  roaring,  thunderous  sound  of  water  I  did 
not  remember  to  have  heard  before,  and  I  wondered  where 
I  was.  It  was  dark  where  I  lay  upon  what  seemed  a  mass 
of  weed  in  a  hut-like  place,  having  at  the  side  a  low  door 
reminding  one  of  the  entrance  to  a  burrow  of  some  animal. 
It  was  nearing  morning  now,  for  it  began  slowly  to  grow 
lighter  and  I  could  distinguish  my  surroundings  better. 
There  was  little  to  consider,  though  upon  one  side  of  the 
strange  place  lay  what  I  knew  to  be  a  stone  axe  such  as  I 
had  carried  once,  and  there  were  other  things  which  might 
be  weapons,  but  the  use  of  some  of  which  I  could  not  then 
understand.  I  knew  well  that  I  could  not  be  quite  my 
self,  else  I  would  remember  more.  I  was  dazed  as  I  had 
seen  wild  beasts  sometimes  become  when  great  rocks  had 
been  rolled  down  from  heights  above  and  some  had  been 
struck  upon  the  head  and  wandered  about  unknowingly 
and  helplessly.  Only  I  had  no  pain.  I  felt  strong,  and 
J  was  hungry. 

I  crawled  out  through  the  low  doorway  and  looked 
about  me.  There  was  much  to  see.  In  the  east  was  the 
glow  of  the  rising  sun,  its  first  clear  rays  making  glitter 
the  crests  of  the  rollers  which  were  tumbling  and  roaring 

165 


166  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

in  over  reefs  and  boulders,  and  climbing  far  up  a  long 
sandy  beach.  There  had  been  a  storm.  The  beach, 
which  was  a  wide  one,  extended  from  the  shore  backward 
to  nearly  the  edge  of  a  dense  forest,  and  along  this  edge 
rose  a  great  line  of  huts  from  some  of  which  smoke  was 
arising.  The  huts  were  rude  affairs,  built  of  driftwood 
and  brush  and  resembling  generally  the  one  I  had  just 
emerged  from,  which  stood  at  the  southern  end  of  the 
long  line.  There  was  something  more.  Directly  in 
front  of  the  line  of  huts,  and  parallel  with  them,  rose  a 
mound  of  regular  height  almost  equalling  that  of  the 
huts  themselves  and  cutting  off  the  view  of  the  sea  save 
where  wide  passages  led  through  it  here  and  there.  It 
was  the  view  of  this  mound  which  brought  me  to  my 
senses,  for,  as  I  now  knew,  I  had  been  dazed  only  by  a 
dream,  a  dream  of  warm  winds  and  hunting.  All  that 
was  gone  now,  and  I  knew  that  I  was  but  looking  upon 
the  huts  inhabited  by  my  own  people,  the  shell-fish  eaters, 
and  that  the  vast  mound  extending  before  them,  and 
which  exhaled  a  mighty  odour,  was  but  the  refuse  of  our 
eating.  The  "Kitchen-middens,"  were  such  mounds  as 
these  to  be  called  by  far  distant  future  peoples.  Not 
alone  were  shells  in  the  mound,  but  the  bones  of  countless 
birds  and  beasts  and  fish,  for  we  were  hunters  and  fisher 
men  as  well  as  plunderers  of  the  enormous  beds  of  oysters 
and  mussels  and  cockles  and  other  shell-fish,  and  of  the 
toothsome  sea-snails  in  the  shallow  waters.  It  was  to 
our  disadvantage,  though  we  did  not  know  it,  that  such  an 
abundance  of  sea  food  lay  at  our  very  doors,  for  so  we  had 
become  more  slothful  and  indifferent  and  were  making 
no  advancement.  This  I  knew  because  when  any  ac- 


THE  KITCHEN-MIDDENITES        167 

cretions  to  our  numbers  on  our  peninsula  crossed  the  nar 
row  strait  we  called  the  Skaw,  between  us  and  the  main 
land,  they  bore  better  weapons  than  we  and  knew  more  of 
many  things.  We  remained  as  we  had  been  when  our 
first  ancestors  crossed  from  the  lands  beyond  the  Katte 
gat  —  the  sea  bay  connected  at  its  ends  with  those  seas 
the  North  and  Baltic  —  and  remained  upon  this  Jutland 
because  of  the  abundant  shell-beds  they  discovered. 

Better  for  us  had  we  all  been  hunters  and  far  rangers. 
It  was  a  land  for  it,  this  Jutland.  Wonderful  flint,  the 
finest  for  spear  and  arrow-heads  and  knives,  abounded 
everywhere,  and  game  was  plentiful.  What  quarry  for 
skilled  hunters  there  was  in  those  great  forests  of  pine,  at 
this  time  yielding  fast  to  other  forests  of  beech  and  oak, 
and  on  the  grassy  plains  of  the  interior!  There  were 
wandering  herds  of  reindeer  and  white  elk  and  the  urus 
and  red  deer;  there  wrere  bears  and  wolves  and  lynx  and 
wild  boars  and  a  host  of  the  smaller  things.  In  the  streams 
were  many  beaver;  in  the  lakes  were  swan  and  geese  and 
lesser  waterfowl,  and  in  the  marshes  millions  of  woodcock 
and  other  birds  as  succulent.  But  of  all  this  spoil  of 
bird  and  beast  we  took  slight  toll  because  of  our  ease  of 
living,  though  there  were  hunters  among  us  and  men  who 
were  not  lacking  in  courage.  Some  of  the  more  hardy  had 
crossed  the  peninsula  to  the  western  shore  against  which 
rolled  the  sea.  It  was  told  that  one  adventurer  had  even 
put  forth  to  the  northward  in  his  boat  and  had  been 
sucked  down  into  the  great  maelstrom  there  which  roars 
by  Varo  Island. 

None  remained  upon  this  shore,  because  the  winds  were 
chill  and  there  were  no  beds  of  shell-fish  to  make  the 


168  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

living  easier.  On  our  own  side,  it  is  true,  the  winters  were 
cold,  but  some  of  the  game  remained  in  the  forest,  there 
was  still  the  fishing,  through  the  ice  or  from  the  boats  far 
out,  and  we  had  always  much  provided  of  dried  meat  and 
fish,  and  were  never  in  danger  of  absolute  starvation.  We 
were  as  listless  as  the  seals,  which  minded  not  the  seasons. 
At  work  in  the  shell-beds  we  were  indeed  expert,  either 
in  the  digging  at  low  tide  or  in  the  dredging  from  boats 
with  rakes  made  of  wood  with  teeth  of  stag's  horn,  and 
at  the  fishing,  as  well,  we  were  all  skilful.  The  big  fish 
were  no  safer  from  us  than  were  the  smaller  ones.  Those 
wrhich  were  accustomed  to  come  to  the  surface  of  the 
water  we  hunted  with  javelins  barbed  with  bone.  To  the 
end  of  the  javelin's  shaft  would  be  attached  a  strong  cord 
at  the  end  of  which  was  fastened  securely  an  inflated 
bladder.  The  javelin  we  could  throw  to  a  long  distance 
and  with  the  greatest  surety,  and  the  fishing  with  it  was 
most  successful.  The  impaled  fish  might  dive  deeply,  but 
the  wind-filled  bladder  would  pull  upward  and,  as  the 
fish  neared  the  surface,  reveal  his  whereabouts;  another 
javelin  cast  into  him  would  make  his  diving  still  more 
difficult  until,  at  last,  he  became  exhausted  and,  so,  easily 
speared.  Sometimes  not  the  javelin,  but  the  bow,  would 
be  used  in  this  sort  of  fishing.  There  were  the  leister  or 
fish-trap,  too,  which  was  of  service  and  of  course,  and, 
chiefly,  the  barbed  bone  hooks  we  used  upon  our  lines. 
We  were  an  indolent  people,  we  of  the  kitchen-middens, 
yet  we  might  have  been  still  more  so  had  there  been  caves 
along  the  shore  such  as  we  knew  were  inhabited  by  those 
who  lived  in  other  regions,  but  there  were  no  such  natural 
homes  to  occupy,  and  we  must  build  our  own  shelters 


THE  KITCHEN-MIDDENITES         169 

against  wild  beasts  and  winter's  cold.  This  was  by  no 
means  difficult,  for  driftwood  and  the  wood  of  the  forest 
were  at  our  hands,  and  our  homes  were  but  rude  ones, 
varying  in  size  according  to  the  number  in  the  family, 
some  built  up  squarely,  but  most  of  them  not  unlike  my 
own  in  shape.  In  summer  they  were  not  uncomfortable, 
and  in  winter  they  were  covered  with  sods  or  earth,  and 
were  kept  warmer  by  a  skin  across  the  entrance  and  the 
burning  of  beech  sticks  in  shells  filled  with  oil  from  the 
seal  or  certain  fish.  Sometimes  in  winter,  too,  blocks 
of  ice  would  be  built  up  into  an  enclosure  of  the  huts, 
keeping  out  the  cold  as  well  as  could  anything  else.  Fuel 
of  all  kinds  was  about  us,  but  we  paid  little  attention  to 
our  fires  in  any  weather.  We  had  become  hardened  to 
the  climate. 

To  the  south  our  land  was  endless,  so  far  as  we  could 
tell,  but  we  knew  its  boundaries  well  to  the  north  and  east 
and  west.  To  the  west  were  the  blending  seas;  the  Katte 
gat  lay  east  of  us,  with  no  great  island  in  sight,  but  with 
many  little  islets  along  the  shore.  Upon  these  islets  a 
few  of  our  people  lived  since  the  shell-beds  were  beside 
and  among  them,  and  there  was  gained  an  added  degree 
of  safety  from  any  sudden  danger.  It  was  easy  to  row 
to  the  nearby  shore  for  hunting  or  for  any  other 
purpose. 

Toward  the  north  our  peninsula  gradually  lessened  in 
width  until  it  ended  in  the  Skagen  Rock.  Between  us 
and  the  rock  was  a  weary  distance,  along  which,  not  near 
together,  but  wherever  the  shell-beds  were,  lived  other 
clans  of  our  race,  with  whom  we  had  slight  dealing. 

Of  laws  or  government  we  had  little,  though  we  usually 


170  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

recognized  a  sort  of  chief,  a  man  not  regularly  elected  but 
coming  to  the  place  by  a  sort  of  general  admission,  because 
of  his  own  good  qualities,  or  his  shrewdness.  To  old  Rolf, 
our  leader,  I  was  the  main  support  and  aid  in  most  of 
what  he  sought  to  accomplish,  first  because  I  was  the 
strongest  of  our  clan  and  the  greatest  ranger  of  the  forest 
and  most  careless  of  risk,  and  more,  it  may  be,  since  I  was 
a  silent  man,unmated  and  unlikely  to  be  fooled  or  thwarted. 
We  were  friends,  and,  after  a  fashion,  as  I  have  said, 
he  relied  upon  me  much.  We  did  not  need  laws  greatly, 
even  such  as  were  observed  by  the  more  savage  tribes  of 
which  we  had  heard.  In  such  ease  did  we  live  that  there 
was  no  battling  for  food  or  clothing  and,  if  sometimes 
there  was  rivalry  for  the  possession  of  a  woman,  she  was 
left  to  decide  the  matter  herself,  and  it  was  rarely  that  the 
loser  complained  when  he  thus  had  two  against  him.  We 
were  not  all  of  an  aggressive  ancestry,  as  was  plain, 
though,  on  occasion,  we  could  show  courage.  We  were  bold 
either  in  or  upon  the  water  —  I  have  seen  a  man  kill  a 
shark  with  a  flint  knife,  and  have  seen  another  dive  many 
times  in  treacherous  eddies  to  bring  upward  and  to  life 
again  one  which  had  gone  down  stunned  from  a  blow  — 
but  very  rarely  were  there  affrays,  and  few  cared  to  face 
the  dangerous  forest  creatures;  I  alone  rejoiced  in  that. 
It  may  be  that  I  was  of  a  different  breed  from  my  compan 
ions,  that  there  was  a  strain  in  me  of  some  far  back  ma 
rauder  of  the  region  from  which  our  tribe  had  come.  Of 
that  I  cannot  tell;  I  only  know  that  I  liked  the  forest 
better  than  the  water,  and  the  hunting  better  than  the 
fishing.  Much  was  I  relied  upon  for  meat  and  skins,  for 
which  I  received  oysters  and  fish  and  oil  and  many  other 


THE  KITCHEN-MIDDENITES        171 

things  I  needed,  such  as  weapons  of  flint  and  whatever 
else  I  lacked  in  my  living.  Always  I  hunted  alone. 

Not  much  did  most  of  the  shell-fish  people  think.  Each 
day  sufficed  for  itself,  though  a  little  they  regarded  the 
strange  things  that  no  man  may  understand.  Our  dead, 
we  knew,  would  not  come  back  to  us,  yet  we  had  regard 
for  the  bodies,  and  buried  them  deeply  beneath  great 
heaps  of  stones  in  a  rocky  place  not  far  from  the  village. 
We  did  not  want  wolves  to  get  them,  and  there  was,  be 
sides,  another  feeling  which  I  cannot  explain.  One  of 
the  old  men  said  that  the  dead  would  come  back  after 
many  years,  but  none  of  us  believed  him.  If  it  were  so, 
why  did  not  those  who  died  very  long  ago  appear?  And 
why  should  we  die  at  all?  But  upon  these  matters  we 
did  not  think  much.  We  ate  and  slept. 

Dull,  though,  as  were  usually  the  people  of  the  clan,  the 
strange  and  mysterious  would  sometimes  arouse  as  it 
alarmed  them.  There  was  one  time  when  even  the 
bravest  of  the  hunters  feared  to  venture  deeply  into  the 
forest  at  night,  especially  toward  a  little  lake  to  the  west 
where  the  urus  were  accustomed  to  feed  and  beside  which, 
on  the  north,  was  a  stretch  of  forest  with  dim  winding 
paths  beneath  the  shadow  of  its  dense  foliage  and  many 
pools  fringed  with  the  rich  grass  the  urus  liked.  Con 
cerning  this  forest  strange  tales  began  to  go  about  in  the 
clan.  There  was  a  ghostlike  monster  there  —  perhaps 
the  thing  that  made  the  wind  bring  pestilence  and  death 
as  it  had  once  in  the  past  —  a  great  white  shape  that 
moved  about  in  the  dark  alleys  of  the  forest,  and  which 
was  not  a  thing  to  be  wisely  faced  by  man.  More  than 
one  of  the  hunters  declared  he  had  seen  the  white  thing, 


172  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

and  the  people  dreaded  to  enter  the  woods  in  search  of 
fruit  or  nuts  and  roots.  Over  all  this  I  puzzled  much. 
What  could  the  white  thing  be?  After  much  persuasion, 
I  induced  Leuk,  one  of  the  hunters,  to  go  with  me  at  night 
to  learn,  if  we  might,  what  was  the  mystery.  It  was  with 
difficulty  that  I  secured  his  company,  but,  in  truth,  I  did 
not  greatly  care  to  go  alone.  There  are  many  things  of 
which  we  do  not  know.  It  was  somewhat  of  a  dark  night 
on  which  we  went,  but  I  knew  that  the  moon  would  rise 
in  time  and  that  we  could  see  about  us  more  distinctly. 
It  did  not  take  us  long  to  reach  the  lake,  and  there  we 
waited,  hidden  in  a  thicket  by  its  shore. 

From  the  forest  near  us  came  many  sounds.  There 
were  the  "pad-padding"  along  of  the  smaller  hunting 
creatures,  calls  of  the  night  birds  and  sometimes  the 
snarl  of  the  prowling  wood-cat,  but  above  these  and  con 
tinuous  was  another  noise,  one  of  crashing  of  branches  in 
the  thickets  as  some  large  body  passed  through  them,  and 
the  thud  of  ponderous  feet  and  frequent  husky  gruntings. 
I  knew  that  the  urus  were  feeding  in  the  glades. 

Very  near  us  was  an  opening,  or  rather  a  sort  of  indenta 
tion,  in  the  forest,  and  across  this  in  the  dimness  we  could 
see  dark  shadows  passing,  though  we  could  not  dis 
tinguish  wThat  they  were.  After  a  time  these  moving 
shadows  disappeared.  And  then,  all  at  once,  loomed  up 
a  great  white  shape,  passing,  without  a  sound  it  seemed, 
across  the  glade! 

Leuk  sank  shudderingly  to  the  ground,  and  I,  with  a 
feeling  in  my  belly  and  throat  I  did  not  like,  stood  gazing 
at  where  the  ghostly  thing  had  disappeared.  We  did  not 
speak;  we  but  waited  in  wonder  and,  it  may  be,  with  not 


THE  KETCHEN-MIDDENITES        173 

a  little  apprehension;  and  as  we  thus  waited  the  moon 
rose,  and  through  the  open  space  to  the  eastward  poured 
her  light  upon  the  lake  and  its  surroundings,  making  all 
nearly  light  as  day.  And  then,  almost  at  the  moment, 
emerged  with  stately  tread  from  the  forest  into  the  glade 
again,  a  majestic  snow-white  urus ! 

Our  fear  was  gone,  but  it  was  succeeded  by  a  great  as 
tonishment.  Who  had  ever  before  seen  the  marvel  of  a 
white  urus?  I  had,  it  is  true,  seen  a  white  crow,  and 
once  a  snow-white  beaver,  and  knew  that  such  things 
happened,  but  such  freak  of  what  makes  living  things  was 
a  wonder  on  such  a  scale.  However,  the  mystery  was 
solved  and  the  fear  which  was  undefined  departed  from 
the  clan,  though  it  was  long  before  the  more  timid  lingered 
much  about  the  pleasant  lake.  Greatly  did  I  desire  the 
skin  of  the  white  urus,  but  he  had  drifted  away  with  his 
companions  and  I  never  saw  him  again.  The  needless 
scare  had  taught  the  people  no  lesson.  They  had  still 
the  dread  of  the  mysterious. 

So  passed  the  inactive  and  indifferent  days,  but  not 
for  long  with  me. 

There  came  the  strangest,  as  it  was  the  most  important, 
adventures  of  my  life.  Near  the  point  of  our  northward 
extending  Jutland  had  grown  up  a  fierce  and  vigorous 
clan,  greater  hunters  and  fighters  than  we,  who  had  de 
cided  to  leave  the  place  they  inhabited,  because  of  the 
exhaustion  of  their  oyster  beds.  Such  movement  by  a 
clan  was  no  uncommon  thing,  because,  though  the  hunt 
ing  and  fishing  might  be  usually  good,  there  were  times 
when  they  failed,  and,  besides,  as  was  considered  by  my 
own  people,  the  oysters  and  mussels  and  other  shell-fish 


174  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

were  easier  to  gather  and  had,  furthermore,  become  the 
food  to  which  the  people  were  most  accustomed  and  which, 
some  thought,  best  nourished  them.  Far  to  the  south 
and  past  our  own  and  other  clans  must  this  one  go  to 
where  it  was  said  there  were  more  beds  of  great  richness. 
There  were  sometimes  runners  between  the  clans,  and  we 
knew  of  the  migrating  band  which  was  already  on  its  way. 
It  chanced  that  I,  at  this  time,  was  about  to  set  out  on  a 
solitary  hunt  to  the  northward  to  reach  the  shores  of  a 
bay  where  were  many  of  a  small  animal,  a  sort  of  sable, 
having  a  wonderful  fur  of  which  I  wished  to  secure  enough 
to  make  a  cloak,  not  because  I  wished  to  wear  such  a 
cloak  myself,  but  because  I  might  trade  it  for  many 
things. 

I  was  two  days  on  my  journey  and  reached  the  bay  as 
night  was  coming  on.  I  made  a  fire,  turning  a  sharpened 
stick  swiftly  into  a  dry  one,  as  was  our  way  —  the  fire  be 
ing  necessary  to  keep  at  a  distance  the  prowling  beasts  — 
and,  after  eating  my  supper  of  dried  venison  and  fish,  lay 
down  to  sleep.  It  was  not  for  long.  I  was  awakened  by 
noises  in  the  wood  to  the  north,  and,  seizing  my  weapons, 
slipped  into  the  dense  bushes  at  the  edge  of  the  forest. 
The  noise  I  had  heard  was  that  of  the  loud  voices  of  men, 
and  I  did  not  know  who  these  strange  wanderers  might  be. 
They  emerged  presently  upon  the  beach,  a  great  company 
of  men,  women  and  children.  Some  of  the  men  gathered 
about  my  fire  curiously  and  there  was  discussion,  but  they 
made  no  search  in  the  wood.  They  thought,  doubtless, 
that  it  had  been  built  by  some  wandering  hunter  whom 
their  advance  had  frightened.  They  were  right  in  that. 
My  apprehension  did  not  go  when,  as  they  began  the 


THE  KITCHEN-MIDDENITES         175 

building  of  many  more  fires,  intending  to  encamp,  I  had 
a  good  view  of  them  in  the  light  of  the  growing  flames. 

The  men  were  a  stalwart  lot  and  somewhat  more  fierce 
of  aspect  than  were  the  men  of  my  own  clan.  The  women, 
too,  seemed  fuller  breasted  and  more  robust.  One  I 
noted  particularly,  a  magnificent  creature  with  yellow 
hair,  who  was  moving  about  the  fire,  where  stood  a  big 
man  who  seemed  in  authority  and  whom  I  recognized  at 
once.  It  was  old  Horsen,  chief  of  the  migrating  clan,  and 
this  was  to  be  one  of  their  stations  on  the  march.  I  liked 
not  the  look  of  Horsen.  I  went  farther  into  the  forest 
and  made  myself  a  bed  of  leaves  in  a  thicket,  kindling 
no  fire  to  attract  the  notice  of  the  wanderers.  As  for  the 
dangerous  wild  beast,  bear,  wolf  or  lynx,  they  would  not 
remain  in  the  region  of  the  noisy  camp.  I  slept  soundly. 

I  awoke  as  day  was  breaking  and,  for  a  time,  was  unde 
cided  what  to  do,  though,  certainly,  my  first  object  must 
be  to  learn  from  their  actions  if  the  invaders  thought  to 
encamp  by  the  little  bay  for  any  length  of  time.  I  crept 
cautiously  to  a  place  near  the  wide  stretch  of  beach  where 
the  trees  and  bushes  were  thickest  and,  peering  out  from 
there,  saw  what  convinced  me  that  the  band  would  re 
main  there  for  some  days,  probably  to  renew  their  sup 
plies  by  hunting  and  fishing.  They  had  brought  with 
them  a  number  of  light  canoes,  such  as  could  be  easily 
carried  by  two  men,  and,  early  as  it  was,  I  saw  fishermen 
out  upon  the  waters.  The  rude  skin  tents  erected  were 
pegged  down  firmly,  the  people  near  the  morning  fires 
were  moving  about  slowly,  while,  here  and  there,  were 
men  engaged  in  examining  their  bows  and  other  weapons, 
and  consulting  together  and  pointing  in  different  direc- 


176  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

tions.  Apparently  they  were  going  on  a  hunt.  I  felt 
assured  they  would  not  depart  from  the  region  at  once. 

My  plans  regarding  the  hunting  of  the  little  sable  were 
surely  thwarted,  but  it  seemed  to  me  that  it  would  be  a 
wise  thing  to  lurk  about  for  a  time,  if  I  could  do  so  with 
safety,  and  so  learn  more  fully  what  manner  of  people 
these  were  and  how  their  advent  on  their  southward 
march  might  possibly  affect  my  clan.  We  surpassed  them 
in  numbers  somewhat,  but  they  were  fierce  of  appearance 
and  the  men  were  all  well  armed.  Their  bows  seemed 
better  than  ours,  they  were  longer  and  heavier,  and  their 
spears  were  many  of  them  made  smooth,  as  I  could  see 
when  the  sun  shone  on  them.  These  wanderers  might 
be  peaceful,  but  it  was  well  that  my  clan  should  be  pre 
pared.  Our  oyster  and  mussel  beds  and  excellent  fishing 
grounds  were  prizes  worth  the  taking,  and  peace  between 
clans  was  a  string  of  bark  at  best. 

Soon  after  a  great  number  of  the  men  of  the  camp  — 
more  than  half  of  them  —  gathered  in  a  body  equipped 
for  the  hunt,  and  entered  the  forest  toward  the  southwest. 
Evidently  they  were  going  to  hunt  on  a  large  scale,  as  we 
sometimes  did,  extending  a  line  in  a  great  semicircle  and 
bringing  in  the  ends,  thus  enclosing  whatever  game  might 
be  near  us  in  our  front.  That  they  would  not  hunt  save 
at  a  long  distance  from  the  camp  I  knew,  because  the 
commotion  there  had  driven  the  game  away,  and  so  I  felt 
certain  that  they  would  not  return  until  nearly  nightfall. 
Many  others  of  the  men  were  fishing  and  there  remained 
in  the  camp  only  a  few  of  the  less  active,  and  the  women 
and  children.  What  a  chance,  I  thought,  for  a  surprise 
by  an  enemy! 


•THE  KITCHEN-MIDDENITES        177 

There  was  no  longer  such  extreme  need  for  caution  in 
my  movements,  and  so  I  wandered  about  through  the 
forest,  thinking  that  I  might  surprise  a  grouse  or  some 
other  bird,  to  give  variety  to  my  supper.  I  was  unsuc 
cessful,  and,  wearied  of  the  search,  at  last  threw  myself 
upon  the  ground  in  a  little  glade  closely  surrounded  by 
trees  and  a  thicket  and  entered  only  by  a  narrow  pathway 
made  by  the  creatures  of  the  forest.  I  was  soon  asleep, 
for,  necessarily,  I  had  rested  but  little  during  the  night. 

How  long  I  slept  I  do  not  know,  but  I  awoke  with  the 
feeling  that  something  alive  was  near  me,  a  faculty  com 
mon  to  us  people  of  the  shore  and  woods,  who  must  al 
ways  be,  even  unknowingly,  exerting  our  senses  for  safety's 
sake.  I  rose  slowly  to  my  feet  and  stood  facing  the  woman 
with  the  yellow  hair  whom  I  had  seen  talking  with  Hor- 
sen  the  night  before!  I  think  we  were  equally  startled, 
but  it  was  the  maiden  who  spoke  first. 

"Who  are  you?"  she  said. 

Her  language  was  like  my  own,  for  only  one  speech  was 
known  along  the  coast,  and  I  understood  her  readily,  and 
understood,  as  well,  that  she  was  not  afraid.  I  scarcely 
knew  how  to  answer  her.  "I  am  a  hunter,"  I  replied, 
"from  a  village  two  days  to  the  south." 

"Sit  down,"  she  said,  "and  tell  me  about  it." 

So  we  sat  down  upon  the  grass,  the  pleasant  sun  shining 
upon  us,  and  I  told  her  all  I  thought  best  of  our  people  and 
of  our  way  of  living.  She  made  no  comment  for  a  little 
time  and  then  said,  thoughtfully:  "I  think  it  is  better 
than  ours." 

As  I  sat  there  looking  at  her  it  came  to  me  that  there 
was  none  like  her  in  my  own  clan,  none  so  stately  and 


178  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

brave,  as  she  had  shown  herself,  and,  assuredly,  none  so 
good  to  look  upon.  There  were  yellow-haired  women  there, 
but  none  with  such  deeply  yellow  masses  of  it ;  there  were 
women  of  excellent  form,  but  none  so  finely  straight  and 
slender,  yet  full-bosomed  and  rounded  of  leg  and  arm.  I 
could  not  keep  my  eyes  from  her.  I  wanted  her. 

We  sat  there  talking  long.  She  had  come  into  the  for 
est  seeking  the  berries  which  grew  in  the  thickets  and  so 
had  found  me.  I  told  her  of  my  name,  Scar,  and  she  in 
turn  told  me  that  her  name  was  Freya,  that  she  was  the 
daughter  of  the  leader,  Horsen,  and  that  the  encampment 
was  to  continue  for  five  days,  when  the  march  southward 
would  be  taken  up  again.  And  more  we  said.  It  was 
wonderful,  my  great  good  fortune,  but  we  became  friends  as 
those  the  Something  which  I  do  not  understand  may  some 
times  make  us.  She  promised  that  she  would  not  betray 
my  nearness  and  that  she  would  come  to  the  little  glade 
again  at  the  same  time  on  the  morrow. 

And  the  story  of  what  followed  in  the  next  three  days 
it  seems  to  me  must  have  been  a  very  old  one,  for  I  had 
seen  what  was  somewhat  like  it  among  the  lovers  of  my 
own  clan.  We,  Freya  and  I,  came  to  know  our  hearts  and 
what  was  within  us  very  well.  We  knew  that  if  we  were 
apart  it  would  not  be  as  good  as  if  we  were  together  al 
ways.  She  was  faithfully  daring.  On  the  fourth  eve 
ning  she  came  to  me  in  her  jacket  and  short  skirt  of  wolf 
skin,  with  her  necklace  and  armlets  of  bright  beads,  and 
carrying  her  cloak  of  fur  and  her  bow  and  quiver  of  ar 
rows.  She  could  use  the  bow,  she  said.  We  fled  together 
into  the  forest,  and  it  was  when  we  were  perhaps  a  league 
from  the  camp  that  our  first  misfortune  came.  We  saw 


THE  KITCHEN-MIDDENITES         179 

at  not  a  great  distance  from  us  one  of  the  clan  returning 
from  the  hunt,  and  he  discovered  us  as  well.  He  seemed 
to  pay  little  attention,  though,  perhaps  thinking  me  one 
of  his  own  band,  but  we  knew  that  when  Freya  was  missed 
it  would  be  known  that  her  companion  was  a  stranger,  and 
that  there  would  be  swift  and  fierce  pursuit.  It  could 
not  be  known  yet  where  we  were  going,  and  the  trackers 
must  move  slowly.  All  night  we  hurried  at  our  utmost 
speed  without  the  risk  of  exhaustion  and  then  hid  in  the 
depths  of  a  great  swamp.  We  were  safe  enough  for  a 
time,  and  a  full  day,  we  judged,  ahead  of  the  certain  pur 
suit.  Old  Horsen  was  not  one  likely  to  lose  a  daughter 
tamely.  Yet  there  came  no  alarm  and,  travelling  at  our 
best  all  night  and  in  the  day  as  well,  we  reached  my  vil 
lage  in  the  afternoon.  I  had  been  more  than  doubtful  of 
the  manner  of  my  reception  when  I  told  of  all  which  had 
happened,  for  I  had  done  what  might  possibly  bring  the 
clan  into  grave  trouble  did  it  venture  to  take  up  my  cause, 
a  most  unlikely  thing,  for  a  man  of  the  Kitchen-middens  did 
not  often  fight  for  love  when  the  love  was  not  his  own. 
We  were  yet  too  near  the  ways  of  brutes  for  that. 

I  need  not  have  been  troubled,  for  the  time,  at  least. 
The  whole  village  was  in  a  turmoil  as  we  issued  from  the 
forest;  there  was  much  running  and  shouting,  many 
boats  were  on  the  water,  and  all  excitement  was  centred 
upon  a  huge,  dark  object  which  lay  among  the  reefs  not  a 
great  way  from  shore  and  directly  in  front  of  the  line  of 
huts.  I  recognized  what  it  was  on  the  moment.  It  was 
a  great  whale  stranded,  a  rare  event  and  a  glorious  one 
for  the  people  of  the  clan.  I  caught  one  of  the  men  by 
the  arm  and  made  him  tell  me  how  it  had  come. 


180  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

A  little  before  noon  the  people  on  the  beach  and  those 
fishing  had  noted  a  great  commotion  of  the  water  quite  a 
distance  out  at  sea,  and  could  not  understand  it  until  the 
foaming  and  splashing  came  nearer,  for  it  was  approach 
ing  the  shor.e  rapidly.  Then  they  who  had  seen  the  hap 
pening  often,  though  never  so  near  the  village,  recognized 
what  it  all  meant.  A  big  whale  was  being  attacked  by  the 
only  enemies  he  feared  in  all  the  ocean,  the  giant  sword- 
fish  and  the  sea  fox,  as  we  called  it,  the  thresher,  which, 
with  its  enormously  lengthened  body  thrown  in  air, 
could  deliver  a  blow  to  crush  frightfully  into  the  body  of 
even  such  a  monster  as  a  whale.  The  attack  —  for  it  was 
no  conflict  —  was  a  dreadful  one,  and  the  victim,  in  his 
agony  and  fear,  was  heading  recklessly  and  unknowingly 
directly  for  the  shore.  The  tide  was  high,  there  was  a  big 
sea  on  and,  in  his  senseless  and  desperate  rush,  the  levi 
athan  came  in,  on  and  through  the  body  of  a  high  wave, 
topped  the  outer  reefs  and  rocks  and  pitched  floundering 
among  the  jagged  uprearing  mass  of  rock,  a  vast  prisoner 
who  could  not  possibly  escape.  His  savage  assailants 
swam  up  and  down  outside  the  reef  for  a  time,  as  if  un 
willing  to  give  up  their  prey,  and  then  took  to  the  deep 
again,  while  the  whale,  deeply  wounded,  lay  gasping  where 
he  had  been  cast  until  the  tide  went  down,  and  died 
there  in  the  shallow  water,  scarce  a  hundred  yards  from 
land. 

The  clan  had  gone  half  mad  with  triumph  and  excite 
ment.  Every  boat  was  seized  upon,  and  those  who  did 
not  possess  one  swam  out,  knife  or  stone  axe  in  teeth, 
and  the  body  of  the  whale  was  attacked  by  scores  upon 
the  side  which  lay  nearest  the  village.  It  was  a  monstrous 


THE  KITCHEN-MIDDENITES         181 

and  welcome  prize  and  there  would  be  much  immediate 
feasting,  for  whale  meat  was  a  fine  thing,  and  there  would 
be  blubber  for  all.  The  candles  of  dried  beech  splinters 
stuck  into  the  shell  filled  with  oil  would  burn  merrily 
in  every  hut.  There  would  be  bone  for  an  hundred  uses, 
and  it  was  no  wonder  that  all  were  boisterously  happy. 
As  for  me,  I  hurried  Freya  to  my  own  hut  and  left  her 
there,  for  it  was  necessary  that  we,  too,  should  have  our 
share  of  the  great  booty  at  hand.  Time  and  again  I 
filled  my  boat  with  blubber  and  skin  which  I  cut  away 
from  the  tremendous  carcass,  so  working  until  nightfall, 
when  I  had  a  towering  mass  of  it  heaped  up  beside  the 
hut  by  my  helpful  Freya,  to  be  better  disposed  of  when 
the  whale  had  been  entirely  stripped.  We  ate,  and  then 
the  danger  which  threatened  us  came  sharply  to  my  mind 
again.  I  would  see  old  Rolf,  chief  of  the  clan,  so  far 
as  we  recognized  a  chief,  and  to  his  hut  I  straightway 
went. 

Not  a  man  of  great  strength  or  courage  above  others 
was  old  Rolf,  but  he  was  friendly  to  me  as  I  have  told, 
and  wise  in  his  way  and  very  crafty.  I  doubted,  though, 
if  he  would  be  of  much  active  aid  to  me  in  my  strait  on 
this  occasion.  He  received  my  story  as  I  thought  he 
would. 

Very  grave  became  the  old  man's  face  when  I  had  told 
him  what  I  had  done  and  what  I  feared  might  follow.  He 
thought  a  little,  and,  even  as  he  was  thus  considering 
there  came  hurrying  to  the  door  of  the  hut,  directed  by 
some  of  the  clan,  two  runners  from  the  advancing  force 
of  Horsen,  who  demanded  that  they  might  talk  with  him 
at  once. 


182  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

Very  brief  was  the  speech  of  the  runners.  Horsen  had 
told  them  that  his  daughter  had  been  stolen  by  one  of 
our  clan,  and  that  when  his  band  reached  our  village  on 
its  journey  the  daughter  must  be  returned  and  the  man. 
who  had  taken  her  given  over  for  punishment.  Other 
wise,  the  approaching  clan  would  take  the  man  and 
woman  by  force. 

The  action  of  old  Rolf  was  better  and  shrewder  now 
than  I  had  hoped  for.  He  knew  nothing  of  the  matter, 
he  said.  If  such  a  thing  had  happened,  surely  the  man  and 
wroman  would  be  given  up,  for  such  stealing  of  women  was  a 
thing  prohibited  between  the  clans.  .He  must  first  know, 
however,  if  the  outrage  had  really  been  done.  He  would 
make  all  inquiries,  and  would  act  as  was  right  when  the  clan 
of  Horsen  appeared.  Meanwhile,  when  they  came  there 
must  be  a  feast  of  the  two  peoples  together.  The  runners 
went  away. 

Turning  to  me  then  old  Rolf  made  short  comment : 

"We  will  not  give  you  up  if  we  can  help  it;  you  are  too 
great  a  hunter  and  fisherman  to  lose.  But  you  must 
hide  away  in  some  of  the  many  deep  thickets  of  the 
marsh  to  the  southwest,  near  where  is  the  blasted  pine 
upon  the  little  island  there.  I  will  send  a  runner  to  you 
to-morrow  to  tell  you  of  what  has  happened.'* 

I  bowed  my  head.  Evidently  there  was  nothing  else 
to  do.  It  was,  anyhow,  better  than  I  had  feared.  That 
night  Freya  and  I  fled  to  the  distant  little  island  in  the 
marsh.  I  thought  but  slightly  of  it  as  a  refuge. 

We  took  food  and  warm  cloaks  with  us  to  the  marsh 
and  were  not  uncomfortable,  but  I  was  in  fear  of  our  dis 
covery,  and  much  I  planned.  Then  came  the  promised 


THE  KITCHEN-MIDDENITES         183 

runner  in  the  afternoon,  a  man  named  Stor,  who  was  my 
friend.  Horsen,  he  said,  had  grumblingly  accepted  the 
invitation  to  the  feast  old  Rolf  had  offered,  because  his 
people  were  eager  for  the  whale  meat,  but  a  serious  thing 
had  happened.  I  had  been  betrayed  by  some  enemy  and 
it  was  known  to  Horsen  that  Freya  had  indeed  been  taken 
away  by  one  of  our  clan,  who,  as  old  Rolf  explained  pro- 
pitiatingly,  had  fled  in  the  night  to  some  unknown  place 
and  could  not  be  produced.  Why,  he  added,  should  this 
be  the  cause  of  trouble  between  the  clans?  He,  himself, 
with  the  men  of  his  people,  would  assist  in  the  hunt  for 
the  fugitive  and  in  the  rescue  of  the  daughter.  Yet  this, 
Stor  said,  did  not  satisfy  the  vengeful  Horsen.  He  had 
demanded  that  his  men  search  every  hut  in  our  village, 
which  had  been  consented  to  readily  enough,  but  which 
search,  of  course,  had  no  result.  The  immediate  region 
round  about  had  been  explored  as  well,  with  equal  bar 
renness  of  issue,  and  Horsen  was  in  a  rage.  Even  to  the 
feast  the  men  of  either  clan  were  going  armed.  After 
that  the  country  would  be  scoured  and,  Stor  thought, 
there  could  be  no  escape  for  us.  I  knew  that  he  was 
right.  I  thought  much  upon  it,  and  a  great  plan  came  to 


me! 

That  night  Freya  and  I  returned  to  a  place  near  the 
village  and,  making  no  sound,  crept  into  our  own  hut  at 
midnight.  A  storm  was  brewing,  as  I  had  foreseen  in 
the  afternoon.  I  had  two  boats,  one  much  larger  than  the 
other.  I  crept  out  in  the  darkness  and  found  them  and 
brought  them  together  to  my  hut.  Such  was  the  differ 
ence  in  size  that  I  could  put  the  smaller  one  within  the 
other,  and  this  I  did. 


184  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

Long  before  day  came,  when  only  the  fishermen  were 
out,  seeking  a  reef  where  they  seemed  to  be  always  most 
successful  at  this  strange  hour,  I  went  boldly  down  to  the 
beach  with  the  courageous  Freya  and  there  we  embarked 
with  difficulty  in  the  teeth  of  the  gale  which  was  making 
the  waves  roll  high.  We  were  seen  by  some  of  our  people, 
but  they  gave  no  alarm.  Well  it  wTas  for  us  now  that  I 
was  a  strong  rower  else  we  would  have  never  got  to  sea. 
We  succeeded,  though,  and  later  passed  the  daring  group 
of  fishermen  who  were  out  already  nearly  a  league  from 
shore  and  were  letting  down  their  lines.  As  we  passed 
they  shouted  and,  a  little  later,  I  saw  one  of  them  suddenly 
put  about  and  begin  to  row  toward  the  village.  I  knew 
my  enemy  now.  It  was  still  dark.  I  rowed  on  until  the 
fishermen  were  lost  to  sight,  and  then  Freya  and  I  ac 
complished  a  feat,  for,  perched  on  each  end  of  the  larger 
boat,  we  managed  to  get  the  lesser  one  out  beside  us  and 
to  enter  it  despite  the  turbulence  of  the  waters.  The 
larger  boat  we  cast  adrift  to  tell  its  story  of  our  seeming 
drowning.  We  had  done  well.  I  changed  my  course 
now  and  rowed  well  to  the  north.  I  did  not  wish  to  be 
seen  again  by  the  fishermen.  I  laboured  in  this  direction 
for  some  time  and  then,  after  a  struggle  to  keep  the  narrow 
boat  well  balanced,  to  avoid  swamping  in  the  rough  waves, 
I  turned  my  course  directly  toward  the  village.  If  I  could 
only  gain  it  before  the  darkness  passed!  We  reached  it 
at  last,  for  I  rowed  furiously,  and  were  soon  beside  the 
whale,  on  its  seaward  side.  That  had  been  my  goal! 
Lashed  in  the  bottom  of  the  boat  were  a  broad-bladed 
stone  axe,  keen  of  edge,  and  a  long  stone  knife  as  sharp. 
I  broke  the  axe  from  its  fastenings  and,  while  Freya  held 


THE  KITCHEN-MIDDENITES         185 

the  boat  against  the  dead  monster's  side,  I  worked  as 
I  had  never  worked  before.  I  cut  deeply,  in  a  line  up  and 
down  and  half  the  height  of  a  man,  and  cut  a  parallel  line 
at  a  distance  of  a  yard  from  the  first  one.  Next  I  con 
nected  these  two  cuttings  by  a  similar  one  at  the  bottom. 
From  this  bottom  cutting  I  worked  inward  until  I  could 
lift  the  skin  a  little  in  a  flap,  which  I  could  turn  upward 
and  then  chopped  into  the  flesh  with  all  my  might, 
casting  it  into  the  sea  as  I  freed  it,  where  it  was  gorged  in 
a  moment  by  the  hungry  awaiting  fish.  I  was  making  a 
little  cave  in  the  whale. 

Furiously  I  laboured  and  soon  had  made  a  hollow  in  the 
'flesh  large  enough  to  hold  two  people,  a  cave  having  a 
close-fitting  flap  for  a  doorway  and  invisible  to  all  outside. 
Into  this  cave  I  lifted  Freya  and  the  food  we  had  provided. 
Before  I  followed  her  I  drove  my  axe  through  the  bottom  of 
the  boat,  making  a  great  gap  through  which  the  water 
Crushed  in  and  sank  the  craft  as  I  clambered  upward  to 
join  my  assisting  mate.  I  could  recover  and  mend  the 
boat  later  if  ever  safety  came  to  us.  We  were  together 
in  warmth  and  darkness,  relieved  of  something  of  our 
fears.  Had  ever  man  and  mate  such  harbourage  before? 

There  came  faintly  to  us,  at  last,  the  sound  of  shouting. 
I  pressed  aside  a  little  of  the  flap  and  saw  a  fleet  of  boats 
being  launched  upon  the  now  almost  raging  waters.  They 
were  filled  by  Horsen's  men,  confident  seemingly  of  cap 
turing  us  if  we  were  still  alive  in  our  frail  cockleshell. 
There  was  no  place  where  we  might  elude  their  sight, 
unless,  keeping  always  ahead  of  them,  we  could  pass  the 
sea  to  far  Lesso,  half  way  across  the  Kattegat,  a  feat  im 
possible  in  such  a  boat  as  ours. 


186  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

We  settled  down  to  endure  as  best  we  might.  From 
outside  faint  sounds  came  to  us,  and  when  I  ventured 
cautiously  to  press  the  edge  of  the  flap  aside  into  a  crack 
I  could  hear  the  tumult  of  many  voices  and  knew  that  they 
were  working  feverishly  upon  the  whale,  but  this  did  not 
disturb  me.  I  knew  that  they  would  work  only  on  the 
landward  side  where  was  shallow  water,  and  knew,  too, 
that  they  would  not  reach  us  for  some  days.  The  whale 
was  a  huge  one. 

The  first  night  passed  quietly  and  we  slept  well.  What 
courage  showed  my  mate !  In  the  early  morning  I  peered 
forth  again  and  saw  the  boat  I  had  cast  adrift  lying 
stranded  onthe  beach.  This  was  as  I  had  planned.  There 
came  no  unwonted  sound  from  shore,  and  I  decided  that 
there  could  have  been  no  battle.  And  so  passed  three 
more  days,  when  suddenly  sounds  became  distinct  and 
very  near.  Our  clansmen  had  almost  reached  us.  I 
could  feel  the  flesh  behind  me  quivering,  and  I  had  a  great 
idea.  I  chopped  vigorously  with  my  axe  into  the  soft 
blubber  and  made  a  hole  finally,  and  bellowed  loudly 
through  it.  There  was  a  roar  of  fright  which  was  followed 
by  flight  and  silence.  Then  I  made  the  hole  much  larger 
and  passed  through  it  with  Freya  and  called  aloud  to  my 
friends  who,  it  must  be  said,  came  back  most  hesitatingly. 
They  thought  us  come  from  the  bottom  of  the  sea!  Soon, 
though,  they  were  themselves  again  and  told  me  the  story 
of  all  relating  to  Horsen  and  his  band. 

The  men  in  the  boats  seeking  us  on  the  water  had  rowed 
hard  all  day  in  a  rough  sea,  and  one  boat  had  capsized  and 
two  of  its  crew  were  lost.  There  had  been  much  risk,  and 
when,  at  night,  the  boats  returned  all  felt  assured  that 


THE  KITCHEN-MIDDENITES         187 

Freya  and  I  must  have  been  lost  before  we  had  gone  a 
league.  There  had  been  a  close  search  of  the  country,  but 
they  had  expected  to  find  nothing  and  were  not  disap 
pointed  in  that.  They  had  returned  from  the  search  in  an 
ugly  mood,  and  the  vengeful  Horsen  had  seemed  about 
ready  for  battle,  but  our  clan  had  its  own  temper  aroused 
by  this  time  and,  upon  showing  their  readiness  for  the 
fight,  outnumbering  the  men  of  Horsen  as  they  did,  he 
had  thought  better  of  it,  and  departed  sullenly  with  his 
following.  We  should  probably  never  see  any  of  them 
again,  for  the  shell-beds  they  sought  were  far  to  the  south 
and  there  were  intervening  fjords  which  must  be  rounded, 
making  their  journey  a  long  and  arduous  one.  So  we 
settled  down  to  peace,  Freya  becoming  an  accepted  and 
much  regarded  woman  of  the  clan.  We  two  sought  our 
hut,  and  I  carried  to  it  more  of  the  blubber  of  the  whale 
because  of  the  light  it  .would  supply  us.  As  for  the  flesh, 
we  would  have  none  of  it.  Its  odour  was  too  persistent 
in  our  nostrils. 

The  long  days  passed  and  the  winter  came,  bitter,  even 
for  the  region,  but  little  did  my  Freya  and  I  heed  the  cold 
in  our  hut,  upon  which  I  had  heaped  many  sods  and  be 
fore  the  door  of  which  the  indrawn  shield  of  skins  fitted  too 
closely  to  admit  the  chilly  winds.  We  snuggled,  like 
rabbits,  there  together  in  our  furs,  and  ate  and  slept  and 
were  almost  as  sluggish,  though  most  happily,  as  were  the 
others  about  us.  Often  Freya  would  stroke  the  long  scar 
upon  my  face  and  press  her  lips  against  it.  We  were 
different  in  many  ways  from  our  companions.  Yet,  the 
winter  seemed  long,  though  sometimes  I  would  go  floun 
dering  through  the  deep  snow  on  the  hunt  seeking  such 


188  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

game  as  had  not  moved  southward  for  the  time,  and  es 
pecially  the  fur-bearers  whose  pelts  now  bore  their  richest 
covering.  Some  success  I  had  at  this,  but  I  was  glad,  as 
was  my  mate,  when  the  sun  shone  again  more  warmly  and 
the  snow  and  ice  turned  into  water.  First  of  all  were  we 
to  build  our  fire  out  in  the  open. 

Warmer  and  warmer  became  the  days,  the  snow  had 
gone  and  there  were  leaves  upon  the  trees  and  many 
flowers  upon  the  ground,  of  which  Freya  would  twine 
wreaths  in  her  hair,  making  her  fairer  still,  if  that  might 
be.  Then  came  upon  us  both  a  certain  longing  and  a  great 
restlessness,  which  we  could  not  understand. 

It  was  I,  thinking  deeply  one  day  while  on  the  hunt,  who 
first  recognized  the  nature  of  our  weariness  and  discon 
tent.  We  were  not  as  we  should  be.  So  different  from 
the  others  were  we  that  our  lot  should  not  be  cast  always 
with  them.  What  should  we  do?  I  hastened  home  to 
Freya  and  told  her  of  what  was  in  my  mind,  and  she  as 
sented  joyously.  We  would  leave  the  shell-fish  eaters! 

But  what  region  should  we  seek,  and  should  we  go 
alone?  Not  quite  all  alike  were  the  shell-fish  eaters,  and 
I  knew  of  some,  especially  among  the  younger  men,  though 
some  of  them  were  mated,  who  might  be  desirous  of  such 
adventure.  The  blood  of  wandering  ancestors  was  yet 
in  their  veins  and,  in  some  cases,  showed  a  little  of  itself 
despite  degeneration.  I  would  talk  with  these.  I  did  so 
soon  and  found  some  twoscore  of  the  clan  who  would  ac 
company  us  gladly,  among  whom  were  five  women  who 
were  mated  to  five  men  among  them. 

We  prepared  most  swiftly  for  this  great  adventure,  for, 
now  that  it  was  secretly  resolved  upon,  all  were  most  im- 


THE  KITCHEN-MIDDENITES         189 

patient.  Carrying  our  weapons  and  a  store  of  dried  meat 
and  fish  —  though  we  thought  to  live  easily  on  the  game 
we  met  —  the  band  gathered  one  night  at  an  appointed 
place  in  the  forest  and  thence  silently  took  its  departure. 

In  which  direction  we  should  go  was  a  subject  of  grave 
debate  for  a  time,  but  it  was  at  last  decided  that  we  should 
press  northward  to  Skagen  Rock  and  thence  cross  the 
narrow  strait  to  the  mainland  in  the  two  light  boats  we 
carried.  Especially  was  this  determined  upon  because 
I  had  already  travelled  over  much  of  the  way,  and  Freya 
knew  the  course  for  the  remainder  of  the  journey.  We 
were  doubtful  about  the  southward  way,  for  we  were 
ignorant  of  where  the  land  ended  there,  not  knowing  that 
it  was  but  a  part  of  the  mainland  and  would  be  our  shorter 
course  to  the  regions  we  were  seeking,  which  were  the 
lands  from  which  our  people  had  once  come.  Our  de 
cision  was  most  unfortunate.  How  could  we  know? 

As  it  chanced,  though,  all  came  out  as  we  had  expected 
for  the  first  part  of  our  long  march.  We  avoided  the  shore 
of  the  Kattegat  lest  we  stumble  upon  other  clans  of  shell 
fish  eaters,  and  reached  the  Skagen  Rock  and  made  the 
passage  to  the  land  beyond  in  safety.  Then  we  took  up 
the  march  toward  the  south. 

For  days  we  travelled,  finding  abundant  game  and 
suffering  no  hardships  worth  the  mentioning.  As  we 
progressed  the  climate  became  warmer,  the  trees  changed 
more  to  oak  and  beech,  and  we  were  more  and  more  re 
joiced  that  we  had  left  the  now  far  distant  village  where 
was  so  little  life.  Then  came  some  apprehension,  when 
we  discovered  signs  of  human  beings  in  the  trails  we  came 
upon,  and  we  moved  more  cautiously.  We  could  but 


190  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

guess  what  manner  of  men  these  might  be.  There  were 
stories  of  tribes  upon  this  borderland  who  were  most  fero 
cious  and  merciless  and  who  spared  none  of  those  whom 
they  might  at  any  time  overcome. 

We  were  moving  slowly  along  a  broad  space  between 
dense  forests  on  either  side,  one  afternoon,  when  there 
broke  out  suddenly  from  all  about  us  such  a  fierce  and 
hideous  yelling  as  I  had  never  heard,  and  from  the  depths 
of  the  wood  leaped  out  a  dozen  times  our  number  of  wild 
gaunt  creatures,  better  armed  than  we,  who  did  not 
hesitate  or  parley,  but  sent  their  arrows  upon  us  in  a 
cloud.  More  than  half  of  us  fell  beneath  that  furious 
volley,  and  others  went  down  a  moment  later  before  the 
spears  and  axes.  Crazed,  I  transfixed  one  of  the  savages 
with  my  spear  as  they  crowded  murderously  in  upon  us, 
and,  even  as  I  did  so,  saw  another  sink  his  axe  into  the 
head  of  one  of  the  women  with  us.  They  would  spare 
none.  As  I  thought  this,  in  that  brief  instant,  it  brought 
me  comfort.  Freya  was  in  my  mind.  I  fought  desper 
ately,  but  what  of  it?  A  spear  entered  my  body.  Of 
those  who  had  left  the  shell-bed  country  not  one  remained 
alive ! 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  LAKE-DWELLERS 

LITTLE  fingers  were  fumbling  about  my  face  and 
there  came  the  sound  of  a  prattling  voice  close 
beside  me.  I  opened  my  eyes  and  looked  into 
the  face  of  a  child  who  was  trying  to  arouse  me,  tugging 
valiantly  at  my  hair  and  chattering  away  in  great  delight. 
Next  I  heard  a  laugh  and  turned  upon  my  couch  to  see,  on 
the  other  side  of  the  hut,  a  woman,  brown-haired  and  blue- 
eyed,  who  was  looking  cheerfully  upon  the  babe  and  me, 
pausing  only  a  moment  to  turn  a  cake  browning  before  a 
fire  flaming  brightly  on  a  broad  slab  of  stone.  She  was 
pleasant  to  look  upon,  and  I  lay  content,  as  my  drowsiness 
passed  away  and  my  head  became  more  clear. 

"You  slept  deeply,"  she  said.  "The  babe  was  trying  to 
rouse  you." 

I  looked  upon  the  child  again  and  caught  him  in  my 
arms  and  drew  him  down  toward  me.  He  was  a  sturdy 
little  one  and  struggled  joyously,  and  my  heart  went  out 
toward  him.  The  woman  laughed  again.  I  now  knew 
who  I  was,  and  where  it  was  that  I  had  awakened.  The 
woman  was  my  mate,  Elka,  and  the  little  child  my  son. 
There  were  none  fairer  nor  finer  than  these  in  the  village 
above  the  waters  of  the  lake  which  lay  between  the  great 
forest  and  the  mountains. 

I  could  hear  the  plashing  of  the  slight  waves  under- 

191 


192  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

neath  us  as  they  washed  against  the  piles.  There  was  the 
smell  which  comes  from  fish  in  the  depths,  and  through  the 
open  window  space  in  the  wall  of  the  dwelling  came  the 
fragrant  odour  of  the  growing  and  blooming  things  of 
the  land.  It  was  very  pleasant.  I  arose  and  went  out 
upon  the  platform  which  jutted  forth  over  the  water. 

It  was  a  pleasant  scene.  From  where  I  stood  a  narrow 
pathway,  made  of  a  series  of  two  hewed  planks  laid  on 
piles  extending  well  above  the  -water,  reached  to  the  slop 
ing  shore  nearly  half  an  hundred  yards  away.  From 
thence  the  slope  rose  into  a  green  valley  which  broadened 
into  almost  a  plain,  and  there  were  fenced  fields  almost  as 
far  as  I  could  see,  though  there  were  no  dwellings.  In  the 
fields,  though  it  was  yet  early  morning,  I  could  see  men 
and  women  moving,  and  there  were  animals  in  some  of 
them  as  well.  On  either  side  of  the  valley  save  at  the 
far  end  rose  mountains,  not  very  lofty  and  covered  high 
up  with  verdure;  but  turning  and  looking  over  the  broad 
blue  lake  toward  the  southeast,  I  could  see  great  peaks  the 
summits  of  which  were  clad  in  snow,  warm  as  it  was  in  the 
valley  and  in  the  lake  village.  Further  rose  peaks  still 
higher,  and  to  the  southwest  were  mountains  also  snow- 
clad  which  the  rising  sun  was  turning  to  a  glory  of  pink 
and  flashing  yellow.  It  was  all  wonderful  and  good  for 
the  eyes.  It  seemed  to  me  there  could  be  no  fairer  place, 
but  I  did  not  linger  to  gaze  long.  Little,  indeed,  I  thought 
upon  it,  for  I  was  hungry  and  turned  into  my  cabin  that 
I  might  eat.  What  is  better  than  eating? 

The  meal  was  all  prepared  for  me,  and  it  was  good. 
There  was  a  fish  cooked  on  the  coals  and  the  brown  loaf 
my  mate  had  made,  and  there  were  nuts  and  little  apples. 


THE  LAKE-DWELLERS  193 

What  more  could  fisherman  or  hunter  ask?  I  ate,  as  did 
my  mate,  and  as  she  ate  she  often  tucked  little  mouthfuls 
into  the  mouth  of  the  eager  babe.  We  were  untroubled, 
for  was  not  our  village  at  peace,  and  was  not  the  wild 
game  abundant,  and  did  not  the  fishing  yield,  and  were  not 
the  crops  flourishing  as  were  the  tamed  animals? 

Truly  we  had  reason  to  be  glad,  for  there  was  not  an 
other  of  the  villages  of  the  Lake-Dwellers  in  all  the  moun 
tain  and  valley  region  as  growing  and  prosperous  as  ours, 
nor  were  there  any  of  the  land  tribes  whom  we  greatly 
feared.  There  had  been  great  trouble  and  bloodshed  long 
ago,  but  that  was  past  and  known  of  only  in  the  stories 
of  our  fathers.  Our  ways  were  now  those  of  the  peaceful, 
though,  sometimes,  there  were  tragedies,  yet,  as  the  years 
passed,  it  seemed  as  if  there  could  surely  be  no  tribe  so 
safe  as  we  who  dwelt  in  the  huts  of  the  lake  village.  The 
time  when,  as  I  have  said,  there  was  no  peace  at  all,  was 
when  we  dwelt  upon  the  land  which  came  sloping  from  the 
west  to  the  water's  side  and  when  very  near  to  us  to  the 
north  and  east  were  wild  tribes  who  made  repeated  forays 
and  who  slew  and  burned.  We  had  remained  but  a  small 
and  timorous  force  when  some  one  among  us  —  none  now 
could  tell  whom,  but  he  must  have  been  most  wise  and 
crafty  —  thought  of  the  plan  of  making  our  dwellings  on 
piles  above  the  water,  that  we  might  be  able  to  defend  our 
selves  from  all  invaders,  be  they  any  of  the  wicked  foray 
ing  tribes,  or  the  marauding  beasts,  which  at  that  time 
were  many  and  fierce  and  dangerous.  But  this  had  been 
long  ago,  and  the  story  of  it  was  already  becoming  dim. 
To  make  our  houses  we,  first,  from  our  boats,  drove  sharp 
ened  piles  of  oak,  beech,  fir  or  ash,  or  sometimes  yew,  deep 


194  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

into  the  soft  bottom  of  the  lake,  not  very  far  from  shore, 
yet  far  enough  for  safety's  sake;  though  sometimes  nearer 
shore,  so  near  that,  when  need  came,  a  platform  could  be 
laid  from  it  to  the  land,  there  was  built  a  greater  house 
than  those  we  lived  in,  into  which  we  could  drive  our 
animals  when  any  danger  threatened  them.  Our  living 
places  we  reached  mostly  by  boat,  though  in  times  of 
certain  peace  we  had  usually  laid  from  the  great  platform 
a  narrow  path  of  split  planks  on  a  row  of  piles  upon  which 
we  might  pass  more  readily;  these  planks,  like  those  of  the 
slope  from  the  ground  to  the  stables,  could  easily  be  taken 
away.  Upon  the  great  platform  farthest  out  in  the  lake 
our  homes  were  built,  very  much  alike.  There  were  four 
upright  standards  connected  by  timbers  wooden-pinned 
at  the  top,  making  the  frame  of  a  house  a  little  longer  than 
it  was  wide.  Between  these  standards  were  the  walls 
of  interwoven  willow  plastered  with  a  mortar  of  firmly 
adhesive  mud.  The  roof  was  raised  in  the  middle  that 
the  rain  might  run  off  more  easily.  In  one  end  were  a 
door  and  a  window.  At  one  end  of  the  living-room  was  a 
big  sandstone  slab  which  was  the  fireplace,  the  smoke 
from  which  escaped  through  the  door  and  window  or 
through  a  hole  in  the  roof;  it  did  not  annoy  us,  for  all 
were  accustomed  to  it  from  childhood,  besides  which  we 
had  learned  to  use  only  those  woods  for  fire  which  burned 
most  cleanly.  In  the  middle  of  the  floor  of  each  house  was 
a  trap  door,  through  which  could  be  let  down  a  small  net 
for  the  fish  which  were  so  abundant  in  the  lake  and  upon 
which  we  depended  much  for  food  when  the  hunting 
chanced  to  be  bad  and  we  had  nothing  else  to  eat  with 
our  bread  of  wheat  or  barley  or  millet  seed,  which  we 


THE  LAKE-DWELLERS  195 

cultivated  upon  the  land.  For  beds  we  had  the  skins  of 
wild  animals  or  of  our  own  tamed  cattle,  or  sheep  or  goats. 
What  finer  homes  could  be?  Surely  we  were  a  fortunate 
people. 

We  had  ways  of  orderly  living.  All  disputes  were  de 
cided  by  three  chosen  old  men  of  the  tribe,  though  not 
always  would  those  who  quarrelled  abide  by  their  decis 
ion,  and  to  each  man  of  the  tribe  was  allotted  his  part 
in  what  was  to  be  done  for  the  general  good.  It  must 
needs  be  so,  for  our  occupations  were  so  different  that  it 
was  necessary  that  each  should  know  how  best  to  do  his 
work.  The  potter  —  we  had  many  dishes  and  huge  jars 
for  the  grain,  and  other  things  of  burned  clay  —  could 
only  do  his  best  if  always  at  his  own  sort  of  work;  those 
who  looked  after  the  cattle  and  flocks  must  best  know  how 
to  handle  them  and  where  were  the  richest  and  safest 
feeding  places;  those  who  did  the  hunting  and  fishing,  of 
whom  I  was  the  chief,  must  be  strong  of  arm  and  fleet  of 
foot  and  wise  in  the  habits  of  all  wild  things;  and  those 
who  cultivated  the  ground  —  the  women  and  some  of 
the  men  —  must  know  how  to  best  prepare  it  for  the  seed 
ing,  digging  it  up  with  sharpened  sticks,  and  hauling  over 
it  the  branches  of  trees  and  the  drags  of  stag's  horn,  and 
how  to  do  the  harvesting.  What  a  community  we  were! 
There  was  none  other  like  us!  Long  already  had  our 
people  lived  above  the  lake,  our  numbers  had  increased, 
the  huge  platform  stretched  its  length  far  along  and  be 
came  wider  as  it  became  longer.  Thus  safe  and  thus 
mingling  together  in  such  numbers  we  devised  many  new 
things  and  so  were  becoming  more  capable  and  potent. 
What  we  were  some  time  to  be  who  could  foretell? 


196  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

The  work  of  the  hunters  was,  of  needs,  the  most  ad 
venturous  and  arduous,  and  only  the  strong  men  and  those 
who  were  most  capable  were  chosen  for  it.  They  must  be 
in  the  forefront  in  time  of  conflict  with  other  tribes,  should 
such  time  come,  and  we  of  the  band  were  all  provided 
with  coats  and  leggings  of  dried  aurochs'  hide,  which  arrow 
or  even  spear  could  hardly  pierce  with  force  sufficient 
to  enter  deeply  the  body  of  the  wearer.  Far  and  wide  we 
ranged,  but  not  deeply,  the  dark  and  almost  endless  forest 
region  to  the  north  and  east,  where  were  dangerous  beasts 
and  still  more  dangerous  and  savage  men  of  the  tribes 
who  had  once  made  frequent  war  upon  us,  in  the  time  be 
fore  we  became  Lake-Dwellers,  and  so  protected  and  too 
well-weaponed  and  trained  and  strong  for  them.  In  our 
own  village  were  more  than  a  thousand  people,  and  in 
other  lakes  not  far  to  the  south  and  east  were  almost  as 
many  more. 

As  for  my  own  life  in  my  hut,  or  outside  on  land  or 
water,  it  was  but  good.  There  were  my  mate  and  the 
child  and  the  ardour  of  the  chase.  It  seemed  to  me  at 
times  that  I,  Scar,  the  hunter  and  fisherman,  was  the  most 
contented  man  among  a  contented  people. 

For  food  we  never  lacked,  even  when  the  hunting  and 
fishing  were  not  good.  There  was  the  grain  equally  di 
vided  throughout  the  tribe  and  stored  in  the  great  clay 
jars  made  by  the  potters,  and  the  dried  meat  and  fish  and 
also  dried  fruit  of  many  kinds,  for  we  had  the  wild  apples 
and  wild  pears  and  cherries  and  plums,  and  especially  a 
little  sour  crab-apple  which  we  liked  and  which  grew  in 
great  abundance.  There  were  also  many  berries  and  great 
quantities  of  beechnuts  and  acorns,  in  the  hills.  Much 


THE  LAKE-DWELLERS  197 

game  there  was  at  times,  but,  most  of  all,  I  think,  we  de 
pended  on  the  marsh  cow,  a  wild  and  rather  savage  little 
brown  beast  which  came  down  in  numbers  to  feed  upon 
the  marsh  grass  on  the  east  side  of  the  lake,  where  we 
hunted  it  as  craftily  as  we  might.  A  great  adventure  had 
I  one  day  with  my  brave  little  mate,  whom  I  had  taught 
to  become,  oftentimes,  a  great  help  to  me  in  my  hunting. 
I  had  rowed  across  the  lake  with  her  far  to  the  south,  for 
I  did  not  wish  to  land  near  the  marsh,  and  so  came  upon 
it  from  the  forest  beyond.  Far  out  and  near  the  water 
I  could  see  a  single  marsh  cow  feeding  close  to  shore.  We 
slipped  quietly  from  the  wood  and  entered  the  grass  and 
then  crept  forward  on  our  bellies  as  quietly  and  silently 
as  any  of  the  little  creatures  living  there,  and,  at  last, 
came  very  near  the  cow,  for  the  wind  was  from  it  and  it 
did  not  scent  us.  It  had  been  a  weary  crawl. 

The  cow,  very  fortunately  for  us,  had  in  feeding  gone 
out  upon  a  little  point  extending  into  the  lake.  We  thus 
had  it  at  a  disadvantage.  I  rose  slowly  to  my  feet  and 
drew  my  arrow  to  its  head  and  shot,  aiming  at  the  heart 
and  feeling  that  I  could  at  such  short  distance  drive  the 
shaft  almost  through  the  comparatively  small  brown  body. 
Unfortunately,  as  I  shot,  the  cow  turned  a  little  and  the 
arrow  buried  itself  in  her  shoulder  slantingly.  With  a 
great  bellow  the  animal  whirled  about,  and  I  thought  that 
it  would  charge,  but  suddenly  it  changed  its  mind  and 
plunged  into  the  water,  for  the  marsh  cattle  swam  almost 
as  easily  as  did  the  beaver,  of  which  there  were  thousands, 
the  skins  of  which  furnished  us  warm  clothing.  I  leaped 
forward  and  shot  again  as  the  cow  swam,  but  only  put 
an  arrow  in  its  rump.  Then  there  swished  by  me  my 


198  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

little  mate,  carrying  in  her  mouth  crosswise  a  short  rod 
she  had  seized  from  the  ground;  she  curved  forward  into 
the  water  as  gracefully  and  swiftly  as  any  of  the  fish-hunt 
ing  creatures  which  harboured  in  the  marsh. 

Then  followed  some  great  swimming!  The  cow  struck 
out  toward  the  southward,  seeking  to  reach  another  point 
of  land  where  it  might  attain  the  forest  again,  but  my  mate 
was  beside  and  ahead  of  it  in  scarce  a  moment,  belabour 
ing  it  over  the  head  with  the  stick  she  bore,  cudgelling 
it  most  valiantly  and  recklessly.  The  cow,  still  swimming, 
and  bellowing  in  rage,  turned  and  charged,  but  could  not 
catch  that  elusive  thing  any  more  than  could  the  beaver 
catch  the  otter.  There  was  a  swirl  and  foam  of  waters 
and  then  came  what  made  me  roar  aloud  as  much  in  wcto- 
der  as  in  glee.  Elka  had  seized  the  marsh  cow  by  the 
tail  and  was  still  cudgelling  away  most  valiantly  and 
recklessly.  Furthermore,  she  was  guiding  the  direction 
of  the  swimming  beast!  As  it  sought  to  turn  toward  the 
shore,  she  would  thwack  it  on  the  shore  side  so  furiously 
that,  in  desperation,  it  would  turn  the  other  way.  Soon 
I  saw  Elka's  aim  —  she  was  guiding  the  cow  across  the 
lake! 

I  ran  my  best  until  I  reached  the  boat  we  had  left  far 
down  the  lake,  and  rowed  fiercely  toward  the  two  dark 
objects  I  could  discern  now  a  long  distance  out.  They 
were  moving  a  little  more  slowly  now,  as  well  they  might, 
but  were  approaching  the  farther  shore  when  I  came  up 
with  them.  The  cow  was  showing  fatigue,  though  my 
mate  was  even  frolicsome,  since  she  had  not  borne  any 
labour,  save  in  the  steering.  She  had  brought  her  quarry 
home  alive.  She  guided  it  to  the  shore,  where  I  speared 


THE  LAKE-DWELLERS  199 

it,  ending  its  trouble,  while  from  the  outpouring  throng 
on  the  wide  platform  came  a  roar  of  astonishment  at  the 
exploit.  Such  a  mate  had  I!  Well  did  she  merit  the 
soft  furs  I  always  brought  her  and  the  necklaces  of  amber 
beads  for  which  I  traded  with  the  sometimes  wandering 
bands  of  friendly  people  from  the  great  sea  to  the  north 
they  called  the  Baltic,  wherein  was  the  amber  found. 
A  necklace  and  an  armlet  of  amber  were  hers,  and  she  had 
beads  also  of  serpentine  and  of  the  inside  of  brilliant  shells, 
and  many  combs  of  yew-wood  and  of  bone  and  horn. 
There  were  none  other  like  her ! 

And,  most  curiously,  that  same  day  came  another  hap 
pening  of  a  far  different  nature  and  one  that  made  me 
almost  believe  that  there  might  be  reason  for  the  stone 
crescent  in  some  of  the  huts,  for  surely  Yak  and  Mona 
without  some  power  to  bring  good  fortune  to  them  would 
surely  have  lost  their  one  child,  a  babe  which  could  scarcely 
walk. 

Most  of  us  could  not  understand  it  or  believe  it,  but 
somehow  there  had  grown  up  a  sort  of  what  they  called 
religion  in  the  tribe,  and  a  belief  that  we  could  be 
helped  in  our  undertakings  and  preserved  from  evil  by 
the  aid  of  some  great  Being  in  the  skies,  and  this  Being 
was  thought  by  these  worshippers  to  be  the  kindly  moon 
which  gave  us  light  by  night,  when  otherwise  we  would 
have  been  more  helpless.  So,  in  the  cabins  of  those  who 
held  the  faith,  was  kept  as  a  charm  a  crescent  made  of 
stone  which  was  counted  a  sure  aid  and  protection.  Little 
faith  had  I  in  the  belief  or  the  crescent,  but,  as  I  have  said, 
what  happened  on  this  day  somewhat  affected  me  the 
other  way. 


200  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

The  babe  was  lying  in  the  sunshine  in  the  little  fenced- 
off  pen  on  the  platform,  of  the  kind  in  which  the  very 
young  children  were  placed  for  safety's  sake,  when  it  was 
seen  by  the  great  lammergeyer  —  the  lamb-killer  —  which 
was  hovering  in  the  sky  far  overhead,  and  the  huge  bird 
dropped  down  upon  it  as  it  would  fall  upon  a  lamb  in  the 
hills.  It  came  with  a  roaring  swoop,  swept  upward  with 
the  babe  in  its  talons,  and  sailed  away  with  it  above  the 
lake,  though  flying  somewhat  lower  and  more  heavily 
than  usual. 

Then  came  the  marvel!  Fishing  far  out  on  the  waters 
was  Lars,  the  best  bowman  of  the  tribe,  save  I,  perhaps, 
but  not  so  far  that  he  did  not  hear  the  shrieks  of  Mona. 
They  could  have  been  heard  a  long  way,  those  shrieks. 
And,  by  the  merest  chance,  from  hope  of  a  shot  at  some 
water  fowl,  Lars  had  his  bow  with  him,  lying  ready  strung 
by  his  side  and  an  arrow  with  it.  He  seized  the  bow  and 
stood  with  arrow  poised  as  the  great  bird  came  winging 
its  way  directly  toward  him,  the  child  dangling  below. 
He  drew  the  arrow  to  the  head  and,  as  the  bird  came  nearly 
over  him,  he  let  go  the  shaft.  There  was  certainly  the 
chance  that  he  might  kill  the  babe,  but  better  such  a 
death  than  to  be  torn  to  pieces  by  the  lammergeyer.  Yet 
the  arrow  did  not  touch  the  child,  though  it  slew  the  de 
vouring  bird,  passing  fairly  through  its  neck  and  bringing 
it  down  shrieking  and  fluttering  and  tossing  to  the  water. 
Lars  lifted  out  both  babe  and  bird,  the  child  with  hardly 
a  scratch  upon  it,  the  bird's  talons  having  clutched  it 
where  was  its  thick  and  protecting  little  breechclout. 
It  was  good  to  look  upon  the  joy  of  Mona  when  she  had 
her  babe  in  her  arms  again.  It  was  good,  also,  that  Lars 


THE  LAKE-DWELLERS  201 

had  killed  the  lammergeyer !  Long  had  it  circled  in  the 
sky  above  us,  seeking  a  chance  to  descend  upon  and  rob 
us  of  our  lambs.  And  this  was  what  made  it  seem  to 
me  that,  mayhap,  there  might  be  something  to  the  stone 
crescent  and  the  worship  of  the  moon.  Surely  Yak  and 
Mona  had  been  strangely  helped. 

Not  all  the  time  were  we  people  of  the  Lake-Dwellers 
devoted  to  our  labours,  because  there  was  no  need,  and 
because  it  was  good  to  play  at  times  and  there  was  the 
call  of  man  to  woman  and  of  woman  to  man.  There  was 
an  open  space  left  on  the  great  platform  near  the  centre 
of  all  the  huts,  and  there  the  youth  and  many  of  the  older 
ones  met  nightly  for  better  acquaintance  or  frolic  or  merry 
chatting  together.  There  were  certain  sports  and  there 
was  dancing  to  the  sounds  of  little  skin-headed  drums  and 
oi  stretched  strings  which  twanged  agreeably.  Some 
times  there  were  feasts  and  festivals  as  well,  when  old 
and  young  assembled,  and  then  men  talked  of  the  catch 
or  the  chase  or  of  the  tribe's  affairs,  and  the  women  of 
what  might  be  in  their  minds  or  hearts.  There  was  much 
proud  showing  of  ornaments  —  though  of  none  to  equal 
those  of  my  Elka  —  and  there  was  mating,  and  it  was  for 
the  good  of  all  that  we  had  this  meeting  place. 

Yet  it  must  not  be  said  of  us  Lake-Dwellers  that  we 
never  had  anything  to  disturb  us.  The  wild  regions 
about  us  held  too  much  of  menace  for  that.  The  rude 
tribes  to  the  east  had  not  threatened  us  for  years  now, 
and  with  those  on  the  northern  sea  we  were  on  good  terms, 
but  there  were  others,  outlanders  and  outlaws,  whose 
lurking  presence  we  must  guard  against  at  all  times. 
They  were  bold  and  cruel  and  ruthless.  It  was  not  safe 


202  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

for  the  women  to  go  far  afield  alone,  and  our  flocks  and 
herds  must  not  be  without  guardians.  Even  at  the  time 
of  which  I  am  telling  there  had  been  a  recent  tragedy. 

There  had  come  up  a  great  storm,  one  such  as  we 
rarely  had  upon  the  lake,  though  lesser  ones  were  frequent 
in  our  climate.  It  rose  in  the  afternoon,  and  continued 
into  the  night,  the  whole  lake  in  a  turmoil,  and  the  braced 
huts  on  the  platform  seeming  hardly  safe  from  the  onrush 
and  pounding  of  the  ravening  waters.  Toward  morning, 
however,  the  storm  subsided,  and  the  sun  shone  out 
brightly,  and  there  rose  smoke  from  all  the  dwellings,  save 
one,  the  home  of  Dill,  a  good  fisherman  and  one  of  my 
own  group.  There  was  a  call  to  the  inmates  of  the  place, 
but  there  came  no  answer,  and  the  hut  was  entered  to  learn 
the  reason  for  such  silence.  There  lay  Dill  and  all  his 
family,  speared  in  the  midst  of  the  storm,  slain,  as  we 
well  knew,  by  a  band  of  the  fierce  wanderers.  The  slain 
could  not  be  brought  to  life,  but  there  was  something  else 
to  do,  for  Dill  had  been  my  close  friend  and  there  was  a 
trail  which  must  be  followed.  I  gathered  together  as 
many  as  I  could  of  my  group  of  hunters  and  fishermen, 
each  wearing  his  armour  of  aurochs  skin  and  each  carry 
ing  his  bow  and  spear  and  axe  and  food  for  many 
days. 

Though  there  were  shrewd  trackers  among  us,  at  first 
we  could  discover  no  trace  of  the  way  in  which  the  mur 
derers  had  come  or  gone,  because  the  storm  had  destroyed 
all  trail;  but,  circling  far,  we  found  it  where  it  became 
clear  with  the  storm's  ending,  and  then,  greatly  aided  by 
the  dogs  we  had  taken  with  us,  we  followed  and  moved 
more  swiftly  and  earnestly  than  ever  we  had  followed  game 


THE  LAKE-DWELLERS  203 

less  tremendous.  We  were  like  the  wolves  which  follow 
the  stag,  as  relentless  and  as  pitiless ! 

We  knew  that  the  outlaws  did  not  much  fear  pursuit. 
The  task  had,  heretofore,  seemed  almost  hopeless,  because 
of  the  craftiness  of  the  bands,  to  say  nothing  of  their 
desperate  resistance  in  strongholds  of  which  they  knew,  or 
of  their  many  secure  hiding-places  in  the  depths  of  the 
forest.  Now,  it  was  different!  One,  at  least,  of  these 
cruel,  marauding  bands  I  was  resolved  should  pay  the 
penalty.  This  band  must  die ! 

For  a  day  and  a  night  we  followed  the  freshening  trail 
and,  early  in  the  morning,  one  whom  I  had  sent  ahead  to 
creep  along  more  softly  than  we  could  together,  discov 
ered  where  they  were.  They  had  just  risen  from  sleep 
and  were  eating  together  in  a  little  hollow  in  the  very 
midst  of  the  dense  forest.  There  were  eleven  of  them, 
unsuspecting  our  nearness,  if,  indeed,  they  had  thought 
of  pursuit  at  all,  talking  loudly  and  planning,  it  may 
be,  other  baneful  expeditions.  We  were  twenty  to  the 
eleven,  and  they  were  ours ! 

Silently  as  creeping  wild-cats,  we  encircled  the  little 
hollow  in  wrhich  they  were  eating,  and  then,  with  my  yell, 
we  leaped  upon  them.  They  were  as  unprepared  as  they 
were  unsuspecting.  They  were  surrounded  and  none  could 
escape.  It  was  a  time  of  fierce  delight  for  us.  We 
speared  them  howlingly,  or  brained  them  with  our  keen- 
edged  stone  axes.  They  were  very  dead  when  we  left 
them,  first  stripping  them  of  their  plunder  and  their  own 
belongings,  not,  as  was  first  thought,  to  the  wolves,  but 
in  another  manner.  There  protruded  from  a  huge  tree 
which  stood  beside  the  hollow  a  straight  extending  limb 


204  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

which  overhung  it  and  was  far  above  the  reach  of  beasts 
of  prey.  With  much  labour,  two  men  climbed  the  tree 
and  crept  out  upon  this  limb,  taking  a  rope  of  hide  and 
many  shorter  ones  with  them.  They  let  the  long  rope 
down  to  us  and  we  fastened  the  bodies  to  it,  one  after 
another,  and  so  they  were  hoisted  and  hung  with  the 
shorter  ropes,  eleven  savage  brutes  in  a  row,  to  dangle 
long  as  a  warning  to  other  prowlers  of  what  hazard  faced 
those  who  ventured  to  invade  the  region  of  the  Lake- 
Dwellers  ! 

Yet  such  grim  occurrences  as  this  were  rare.  We  were 
peaceful  and  prosperous,  as  I  have  told,  increasing  stead 
ily  in  numbers.  Because  there  were  assembled  together 
so  many,  all  in  helpful  comradeship  with  each  other,  there 
came  a  greater  knowingness  and  there  was  devised  much 
of  what  was  new.  The  potters  made  finer  jars  and  all 
sorts  of  earthen  vessels;  the  women  contrived  a  way  of 
weaving  a  sort  of  cloth  from  the  fibre  of  plants,  though 
as  yet  they  could  not  do  it  very  well;  the  hunters  invented 
new  and  better  snares,  the  flint  chippers  made  more  ef 
fective  weapons  for  them;  our  fields  were  better  tilled,  and 
our  little  herds  were  better  tended.  It  was  the  close 
companionship  in  such  numbers  which  led  toward  our 
greatness. 

And  so  the  full  days  passed.  It  was  a  little  after  sum 
mer  and  the  leaves  in  the  forest  were  already  turning 
slowly  from  green  to  brown  or  brilliant  red  or  yellow.  It 
was  on  one  of  the  brightest  of  the  autumn  afternoons 
that  I  thought  to  go  fishing  with  hook  and  line,  taking  my 
bow  along  in  the  hope  that  I  might  find  ducks  or  geese 
about  the  marsh,  for  I  had  it  in  mind  to  fish  near  the  far- 


THE  LAKE-DWELLERS  205 

ther  shore.  It  was  well  that  I  did  so,  as  far  as  that  day 
went. 

Of  all  the  animals  we  sought  to  capture  or  kill  because 
of  the  richness  or  beauty  of  their  fur  there  was  none  to 
equal  the  otter.  An  otter  skin  was  deemed  a  greater 
prize  than  that  of  bear  or  wolf  or  lynx  or  beaver,  and  he 
was  counted  fortunate  who  owned  one.  Very  few  of  such 
skins  were  ours,  however,  for  so  silent  and  elusive,  so  wary 
and  crafty,  and  swift  either  on  or  under  the  water  was  the 
otter,  that  it  was  hard  to  trap  or  kill  one  of  them.  Not  a 
fisherman  or  hunter  in  the  tribe  but  had  hunted  them  with 
all  his  art,  and  not  many  had  been  successful,  though  there 
existed  and  thrived  numbers  of  them,  great  prizes,  in  and 
about  the  shore.  On  the  afternoon  of  which  I  tell  I 
rowed  to  near  where  the  deep  water  shallowed  into  the 
vast  marsh,  in  which  were  broad  pools  connected  with  the 
lake  by  narrow  streams  of  little  depth.  I  was  sitting  idly 
and  motionless  in  the  boat  with  my  line  in  the  water  when, 
suddenly,  two  tawny  pointed  noses  followed  by  dark 
bodies  rose  to  the  surface.  I  did  not  move  so  much  as  an 
eyelid.  So  motionless  was  I  that  the  creatures  did  not 
recognize  me  as  a  living  object.  It  seemed  to  me  that  I 
must  be  trembling  visibly  in  my  eagerness  and  vague 
hope,  but  I  did  not  stir. 

The  otters  sported  about  in  the  water,  chasing  each 
other,  diving  and  racing,  and  all  the  time  nearing  the 
shore  of  the  marsh  and  the  mouth  of  one  of  the  little 
creeks  of  which  I  have  spoken.  At  last  they  were  fairly 
in  its  shallows  and  uplifted  themselves  and  looked  about 
them.  They  waited  a  moment  and  then,  to  my  surprise, 
swam  steadily  up  the  winding,  narrow  stream.  I  was 


206  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

astonished  because,  though  these  fish-filled  pools  were 
among  their  favourite  hunting-grounds  at  night,  they  were 
never  seen  in  them  in  the  dangerous  daylight.  What  had 
induced  these  two  to  take  the  risk  I  cannot  tell;  it  may  be 
that  they  felt  well  assured  of  safety  after  their  survey  with 
uplifted  necks,  their  eyes  seeking  in  all  directions,  or,  that 
they  were  unusually  hungry,  but,  whatever  the  cause  of 
their  unwonted  action,  it  threw  me  into  wild  excitement 
and  gave  me  stronger  hope.  I  might  kill  them  both! 
The  pond  toward  which  they  were  swimming  was  small 
and  shallow,  and  I  could  easily  guard  its  entrance.  I 
waited  until  a  turn  of  the  slender  stream  hid  them  from 
sight  and  then  rowed  swiftly  toward  it. 

There  was  a  commotion  and  splashing  in  the  little  pond, 
which  I  saw  was  not  more  than  ten  or  twelve  yards  across, 
as  I  neared  it  after  abandoning  my  boat  and  creeping 
forward  through  the  high  marsh  grass.  The  otters  were 
rioting  there  among  the  many  fish  of  the  smaller  kind, 
perch  and  the  like,  which  had  reached  it  from  the  lake 
and  were  now  at  the  mercy  of  their  enemies.  They  were 
fairly  mad  in  their  seizing  and  gorging.  The  fish  could 
not  escape,  and  the  otters  were  making  a  carnival  of  it. 
I  raised  my  head  by  slow  degrees  and  then  a  knee,  moving 
so  invisibly  that  no  change  could  be  seen,  and  gradually 
raised  my  bow  with  arrow  upon  string  and  drew  it  slowly 
back.  One  of  the  otters,  the  female  it  proved,  caught  a 
fish  close  to  the  shore  and,  with  her  forefeet  upon  the  sands, 
raised  her  head  high  as  she  swallowed  it.  I  held  the  shaft 
head  fair  upon  her  body  just  behind  the  shoulder  —  I 
could  not  miss  so  near  a  mark  —  and  let  it  go.  It  struck 
her  just  where  I  had  aimed  and  passed  through  her, 


THE  LAKE-DWELLERS  207 

leaving  but  little  of  its  length  in  sight  above  its  feather 
ing.  She  screamed  and  snarled  in  her  pain  and  threshed 
wildly  about  in  the  water.  I  had  one  of  the  prizes ! 

The  other  otter  swam  swiftly  toward  the  narrow  mouth 
of  the  creek,  but  I  leaped  into  it  and  barred  his  way,  dis 
charging  an  arrow  at  him  as  his  head  appeared,  but  miss 
ing  him  in  his  lightning-like  dart  for  safety.  Round 
and  round  he  swam  in  his  terror  and  perplexity,  and  then 
darted  to  shore  and  made  off  through  the  marsh  grass 
toward  the  lake.  I  shot  at  him  as  he  left  the  water  and 
before  he  reached  the  high  grass,  but  struck  him  only  in 
the  ham,  where  the  arrow  stuck.  Then  I  rushed  wildly 
after  him.  An  otter  can  run  with  no  little  speed  on  land, 
but  not  so  swiftly  as  a  man,  and  I  was  up  with  the  fleeing 
animal  in  a  moment,  striking  fiercely  at  him  with  my  bow. 
In  his  desperation  he  faced  me  snarlingly,  even  leaping 
at  me  in  his  rage.  The  bow  was  useless  against  him,  but 
I  saw  a  piece  of  driftwood  at  my  feet  and  seized  upon  it 
and,  as  he  again  sought  to  escape,  I  passed  him  once  more 
and,  as  he  faced  me,  killed  him  with  a  single  blow  upon 
the  head.  I  carried  his  body  to  the  shore  of  the  pond  and 
laid  it  beside  that  of  his  mate,  which  I  rescued  from  the 
water. 

It  seemed  incredible!  I  had  slain  two  magnificent 
otters  in  a  single  day.  When  had  such  fortune  ever  be 
fore  come  to  a  Lake-Dweller?  How  magnificent  was  the 
fur.'  How  carefully  and  delicately  should  the  skins  be 
tanned.  What  a  glorious  robe  should  my  Elka  wear!  I 
carried  the  astonishing  spoil  to  my  boat,  shouting  aloud 
unreasoningly  the  while,  and  rowed  with  all  my  might  for 
the  great  platform  and  my  home. 


208  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

What  a  reception  I  had!  How  amazed  were  all  the 
people  of  the  tribe  and  how  proud  and  happy  was  my  mate. 
It  was  the  greatest  happening  in  our  lives  since  we  had 
begun  living  in  our  hut  together.  Surely  such  fortune 
deserved  a  celebration!  We  considered  what  it  should 
be.  It  must  be  a  feast,  and  Nard  and  Lone,  his  mate,  who 
were  often  our  companions  and  who  lived  in  a  hut  near 
our  own,  should  share  it  with  us ! 

We  had  in  the  hut  the  hind  quarter  of  a  fallow  deer  I 
had  lately  killed  in  a  manner  of  which  I  was  proud,  for  I 
had  killed  it  in  the  open.  I  had  seen  it  from  the  nearby 
wood,  but  at  first  was  hopeless  of  getting  within  bowshot 
of  it.  Then  an  idea  had  come  to  me  which  I  followed 
quickly.  The  animal  was  standing  knee  deep  in  the  lush, 
long  grass  of  the  plain,  and,  seeking  another  open  space  not 
far  behind  me,  I  plucked  quantities  of  this  grass  and  bound 
it  all  about  me  with  the  strings  of  hide  I  always  carried, 
the  grass  concealing  even  most  of  my  head.  Then, 
crawling  upon  the  ground,  I  crept  into  the  open  and  ad 
vanced  toward  the  feeding  deer.  Looking  however  closely, 
one  must  have  been  sharp  of  eye  to  detect  me.  There 
was  none  among  the  hunters  of  the  tribe  who  could  move 
as  softly  and  as  silently,  either  afoot  or  crawling,  as  could 
I,  and  this  time  I  fairly  outdid  myself.  Nearer  I  came  to 
the  deer  until  I  was  but  a  few  yards  away,  and  then,  as 
softly  and  slowly  as  I  had  later  with  the  first  of  the  two 
otters,  I  rose  to  my  knees  and  raised  my  bow  and  drove 
the  arrow  to  the  very  heart  of  the  game.  Somewhat  did 
I  boast  of  that  among  my  tribesmen. 

The  hind  quarter  of  this  fat  beast  should  be  the  meat 
for  our  feast,  but,  on  aa  occasion  so  great,  there  must  be 


THE  LAKE-DWELLERS  209 

-\ 

other  things.  We  must  have  fish  as  well,  to  go  with  the 
wheaten  cakes  and  the  wild  apples  and  beechnuts,  and 
I  was  resolved  that  it  should  be  one  of  the  great  pike  which 
were  abundant  in  the  deeper  water,  but  which  we  rarely 
caught  in  the  water  about  the  village. 

So  in  the  afternoon  of  the  day  after  the  killing  of  the 
otters  I  prepared  for  the  fishing.  I  was  in  great  spirits. 
As  I  neared  the  edge  of  the  platform  where  my  boat  was 
moored  I  passed  old  Fir,  the  oldest  man  in  the  tribe,  and 
a  hale  old  man  he  was!  His  face  was  withered,  but  his 
step  was  quick  and  firm  and  he  still  worked  among  the 
potters,  one  of  the  best  of  them.  He  was  always  cheer 
ful,  delighting  in  his  children  and  grandchildren  and  a 
great-grandchild  or  two,  as  well.  His  presence  was  an 
animating  thing  for  us,  and  we  respected  him  much  and 
listened  to  his  advice,  which  was  never  unwise.  As  I 
spoke  with  him  and  looked  upon  him,  I  said  to  myself 
that  in  my  old  age  I  would  be  another  like  him!  Surely 
I  would  live  to  be  as  old,  for  I,  Scar,  was  the  strongest  and 
most  full  of  health  of  all  our  clan,  the  one  most  able  to 
fend  off  evil  of  any  sort.  Assuredly  I  would  live  as  long 
as  had  this  fine  veteran,  who  was  near  an  hundred  years 
of  age. 

I  took  my  larger  net  into  my  boat  and  rowed  out  with  it 
and  anchored  it  with  a  stone  at  the  end  of  a  rope  of  skin 
above  a  deep  place  in  the  lake  where  I  knew  the  pike  were 
most  abundant.  I  let  down  the  net,  which  was  a  pouch- 
like  thing,  baited  in  the  centre  and  which  would  upon  the 
swift  pulling  of  a  cord  of  hide  enclose  whatever  was  close 
above  it.  It  was  lined  with  many  sharp  barbed  hooks, 
to  assist  the  chance  of  capture  in  the  struggles  of  the  fish 


210  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

to  break  away.  I  waited  a  time  for  the  bait  fastened  upon 
the  hoop-net  to  attract  the  fish,  and  then  lifted  the  net 
sharply.  It  came  only  a  little  way;  it  had  somehow 
caught  upon  the  bottom.  I  was  enraged  at  the  happening. 
Pull  strongly  as  I  dared,  I  could  not  release  the  net.  There 
was  but  one  thing  to  do :  I  must  dive  from  the  boat  and 
free  the  thing,  no  feat  for  one  who  could  swim  like  a  beaver. 
The  day  was  very  warm;  I  was  impatient  and  excited;  I 
could  dry  happily,  when  I  rose,  in  the  sun,  and  so  I  dived 
with  my  tough  garb  still  upon  me.  Down  to  the  net  I 
went  and  learned  in  a  moment  what  had  happened.  There 
was  some  sort  of  narrow  jagged  opening,  reaching  down 
ward  perhaps  a  yard  in  the  rocky  bottom,  and  into  this 
hole  the  net  had  fallen,  catching  and  entangling  itself 
upon  the  spurlike  protuberances  which  extended  from 
the  sides  of  the  little  chasm.  It  appeared  to  be  twisted, 
and  impaled  about  and  upon  two  of  these.  I  tugged  and 
strained,  but  my  efforts  at  its  dislodgment  failed,  while 
my  breath  was  almost  exhausted.  I  must  go  to  the  top 
for  air  before  I  could  do  more.  Then,  as  I  made  one  last 
desperate  attempt  before  rising,  my  foot  slipped  with  the 
effort  and  I  slid  downward  into  the  hole  and  into  the  an 
chored  net  itself!  I  was  suffocating;  I  strove  to  swim  up 
ward,  but  was  held  back;  the  strong  sharp  hooks  had 
caught  in  my  clothing  in  a  score  of  places,  at  which  I 
plucked  with  the  fierceness  of  despair.  Then  I  strived  to 
tear  away  my  skin  garments,  but  was  already  too  weak  for 
that.  I  could  endure  the  strain  upon  my  lungs  no  longer. 
I  opened  my  mouth  gaspingly,  and  the  water  rushed  in. 
I  was  drowning! 

I  yet  struggled  for  a  moment  or  two,  and  then  became 


THE  LAKE-DWELLERS 

quiescent,  I  know  not  why.  A  thousand  thoughts  came 
to  me.  I  had  heard  it  said  —  and  the  wise  ones  of  the  tribe 
said  —  that  it  had  been  so  from  the  beginning,  that  to  the 
drowning  always  comes  in  an  instant  the  memory  of  all 
things  of  importance  which  may  have  happened  in  his 
lifetime.  It  was  so  with  me.  How  many  things  I  had 
forgotten !  I  lived  my  life  over  again  in  what  must  have 
been  but  a  moment.  Then  came  the  present.  I  thought 
of  my  immediate  clan  —  ill  could  they  afford  the  loss  of 
Scar,  the  hunter  —  I  thought  of  the  black  sorrow  of  Elka. 
I  thought  of  my  people  and  of  the  time  when  they  would 
so  increase  that  all  men  would  be  lifted,  because  men  had 
come  together  in  a  city  —  the  first  the  world  had  ever 
known!  Of  things  such  as  these  I  thought.  Then  all 
became  dreamy  and  very  pleasant. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  ARMOURERS 

I  WAS  aroused  by  the  sound  of  a  strange  hammering, 
blows  following  each  other  rapidly  and  with  a  quality 
of  sound  it  seemed  to  me  I  had  never  heard  before. 
It  was  not  like  that  of  stone  upon  wood  or  of  stone  upon 
stone,  but  had  at  times  a  faint  ring,  a  something  alto 
gether  unfamiliar.  I  had  been  sleeping  peacefully  in 
the  sun,  lying  in  the  grass  of  a  plot  among  bushes  which 
grew  in  a  valley-like  gorge  between  rocky  walls  and  having 
many  boulders  scattered  about  upon  its  surface.  I  sprang 
to  my  feet  and  emerged  from  the  bushes  to  discover  the 
cause  of  the  curious  hammering,  and  recognized  the  scene, 
though  somewhat  slowly.  The  Hammer  was  at  work 
with  two  companions,  and  I  knew  that  I  should  have  been 
helping  him  had  I  not  become  tired  and  gone  to  the  sunny 
spot  in  the  bushes  to  rest  and  sleep  a  little. 

The  Hammer  —  he  had  gained  the  name  because  he 
was,  nowadays,  doing  little  else  than  swing  his  big  stone 
hammer  in  seeking  to  acquire  what  had  never  been  much 
sought  before  —  saw  me  approaching  and  hailed  me  bois 
terously:  "Ho!  Did  you  sleep,  Scar,  big  laggard?  Here 
is  more  mauling  for  you." 

There  was  mauling  to  be  done,  assuredly.  All  three  of 
the  men  were  at  work,  standing  beside  a  flat  boulder  upon 
which  they  were  seeking  to  pound  to  little  fragments  un- 

212 


THE  ARMOURERS  213 

even  chunks  of  rock,  which,  from  their  shape,  must  have 
been  somehow  broken  from  a  larger  body.  As  I  drew 
nearer  I  saw  that  among  the  fragments  the  men  were 
thus  seeking  to  pulverize,  there  appeared  lumps  and  shreds 
and  strips  of  a  substance  which  did  not  break  beneath  the 
blows,  though  it  might  bend  and  flatten.  Then  what  re 
mained  of  the  daze  of  my  sleeping  went  away  in  a  moment 
and  I  knew  the  why  and  wherefore  of  what  was  here  be 
fore  me.  The  red  substance  was  the  thing  Hammer  had 
found  in  the  pronged  rock  and  was  copper,  as  we  came  to 
call  it,  something  now  most  precious  to  us  and  in  the 
getting  of  which  we  were  all  assisting  Hammer  to  the  ut 
most.  What  arrow-heads  and  spear-heads  he  had  given 
us !  There  had  been  never  others  to  equal  them. 

It  had  been  a  curious  discovery  and  one  unlikely  to 
have  been  made  by  other  than  this  Hammer,  friend  and 
hut-mate  of  mine,  and  the  shrewdest  and  most  thinking 
man  among  us.  He,  who  was  ever  alert  to  discover  the 
reason  of  what  was  unusual,  was  attracted  one  day  by 
the  appearance  of  a  particular  boulder  in  the  valley.  It 
was  different  from  the  others  in  that  it  had  upon  it  many 
outstanding  points  and  bulges,  as  if  the  stone  were  harder 
in  those  spots  and  had  yielded  less  to  the  chippings  of  the 
cold,  heat  and  storms  or  whatever  might  make  it  grow 
smaller  with  time.  He  picked  a  small  rock  from  the  ground 
and  struck  a  heavy  blow  upon  one  slender  projection, 
longer  than  his  hand,  thinking  to  break  it  off,  but  it  did 
not  break;  it  only  bent  instead.  Then,  indeed,  was  the 
curiosity  of  Hammer  aroused  mightily.  He  would  have 
that  strange  projection!  Fiercely  and  strenuously  he 
pounded  upon  it,  and  very  wearily,  at  last,  for  he  had  set 


214  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

himself  a  serious  task,  though  he  finally  succeeded  in 
loosening  the  prong  from  the  rock  after  long  battering 
of  it  back  and  forth.  He  held  in  his  hand  something  well 
worthy  of  his  study. 

Hammer  brought  to  our  hut  the  red  piece,  which  surely 
was  not  of  the  rock  itself,  and  much  we  considered  of 
what  it  might  be  and  of  what  use  it  could  be  made  to  us. 
That  last  thought  took  but  little  time.  Hammer  de 
cided  it : 

"It  will  not  break,"  he  said;  "it  will  only  bend,  and 
that  not  easily,  yet  it  may  be  hammered  into  many  shapes. 
Such  hammering  it  shall  have.  I  will  make  a  spear-head 
such  as  men  have  never  seen! "  He  took  the  fragment  of 
metal  and  one  of  the  heaviest  of  our  stone  hammers  and 
went  with  them  to  the  hard  flat  boulder  in  the  ravine  and 
there  began  his  pounding. 

All  that  afternoon  came  to  our  ears  in  the  village  the 
sound  of  the  hammering  at  the  rock.  I  did  not  go  there, 
for  I  had  other  things  to  do  out  in  the  lower  hills  where  I 
had  seen  a  group  of  little  deer,  and  where  I  thought  I 
might  get  a  chance  at  one  as  they  came  from  the  wood  at 
sundown.  I  got  none,  and  darkness  had  come  when  I 
reached  our  hut  again  and  found  Hammer  by  the  fire, 
whereon  he  had  roasted  meat,  which  tasted  good  to  both 
of  us.  I  asked  concerning  his  labour,  and  he  showed  me 
the  piece  of  copper. 

What  a  change  had  come  to  it!  Very  nearly  in  the 
shape  of  a  spear-head  it  was  now,  and  fine  to  look  upon 
in  its  bright  redness.  Hammer  said  he  had  not  sought  to 
do  more  when  the  light  began  to  fail,  for  the  work  must 
be  finer  now  and  he  must  use  a  lighter  hammer.  He  was 


THE  ARMOURERS  215 

at  the  rock  again  in  the  early  morning  and  wrought  all 
day  again,  meanwhile  having  lying  on  the  rock  beside  him 
as  he  worked  the  best  and  most  beautifully  shaped  stone 
spear-head  that  we  owned,  one  of  the  hardest  flint,  most 
perfect  in  its  form  and  so  polished  by  rubbing  upon  sand 
stone  and  afterward  with  the  bark  of  trees  that  it  was  as 
smooth  as  the  shell  of  a  beechnut.  This  Hammer  used 
as  a  model,  and  the  "tap-tapping"  of  his  light  hammer  of 
stone  upon  the  metal  was  like  the  tapping  of  a  woodpecker 
who  never  wearied.  He  would  not  show  me  that  night 
what  he  had  accomplished,  but  said  that  his  task  would 
be  done  in  the  day  to  come.  At  night  when  we  met  again 
in  the  hut  he  showed  me  the  copper  spear-head. 

It  was  something  wonderful,  that  spear-head.  It  was 
smoother  than  any  stone  one  ever  made,  for  Hammer  had 
tapped  so  gently,  at  the  end,  that  there  was  left  no  trace 
of  indentation,  and  afterward  he  had  polished  it  until  now 
it  glittered  in  the  firelight.  Its  edge  was  better  than 
could  be  given  to  any  stone  knife,  and,  Hammer  told  me, 
it  could  be  ground  upon  our  sandstone  whetstones,  or  if 
it  became  dulled,  could  be  easily  hammered  into  sharpness 
again.  It  could  not  be  broken!  There  was  no  other 
such  spear-head  in  the  world  —  and  we  could  make  others 
like  it! 

There  was  such  excitement  in  the  village  as  had  not 
often  been  known  before  when  Hammer,  who  had  set  the 
spear-head  in  its  shaft,  displayed  it  to  the  tribe.  There 
was  wonder  and  great  envy  and  desire  and  a  demand  that 
henceforth  Hammer  should  do  naught  else  but  make  such 
spear-heads,  that  each  might  possess  one  and  so  the 
tribe  be  made  superior  to  all  about  us.  And  Hammer 


216  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

promised  this,  if  only  they  would  bring  to  him  the  copper 
with  which  to  work,  and  he  told  of  how  he  had  found 
that  which  he  had.  This  was  agreed  upon,  and  soon 
as  many  men  as  could  work  together  were  assailing  the 
copper-holding  boulder  with  their  heaviest  hammers  and 
mauls  of  stone.  A  weary  task  must  it  be  to  break  that 
rock  to  pieces,  but  the  hammers  were  of  a  harder  stone 
than  it,  and  all  day  the  blows  were  falling  and  in  time 
each  scrap  of  copper  which  it  held  must  needs  be  in  our 
possession. 

And,  as  it  had  been  agreed  upon,  so  it  came  to  pass, 
though  long  was  the  labour.  Strips  and  bits  and  frag 
ments  of  copper  of  all  sizes,  from  those  fitted  for  arrow 
heads  and  spear-heads  up  to  those  large  enough  for  axes, 
were  gained  from  the  gradually  crushed  rock,  and  Ham 
mer,  whom  I  now  aided,  laboured  from  dawn  until  night. 
The  time  came  when  each  man  in  the  tribe  bore  proudly 
a  shining  copper  spear-head  and  when  some  had  axes  or 
copper  arrow-heads  as  well.  It  was  a  great  thing,  but  the 
rock  was  gone !  Where  could  we  get  more  copper?  There 
was  none  to  answer,  and  upon  this  problem  Hammer  and 
I  thought  much  and  discussed  it  many  times. 

The  matter,  as  well  it  might,  had  become  one  meaning 
much  to  all  of  us.  We  were  not  a  tribe  at  all  mighty  as 
to  numbers,  but  here  had  come  to  us  what,  were  it  to 
continue,  would  lift  us  above  all  others,  for  we  would  have 
the  best  of  weapons  and,  furthermore,  that  which  would 
enable  us  to  get  by  barter  whatever  others  had  which  we 
most  desired.  What  allies  we  could  make!  No  little 
thing  in  those  days  was  such  alliance,  when  warfare  for 
spoil  alone  was  not  uncommon  and  none  of  the  weak  was 


THE  ARMOURERS  217 

safe  without  a  strong  alliance.  And  what  other  good 
might  come  to  a  tribe  with  such  a  possession  held  by  it 
self  alone !  All  saw  the  need  we  had  —  a  puny  force,  an 
offshoot  from  a  greater  one  which  long  since  had  moved 
to  the  western  forests  and  of  whom  we  had  lost  all  trace. 
Less  than  half  a  thousand  of  us  were  in  the  village,  and, 
though  we  were  most  prosperous  and  content,  we  knew 
not  what  might  come.  Far  up  toward  the  north  and 
west  of  the  new  land  we  were,  and  in  a  region  of  scattered 
forests  and  bright  rivers  and  wild  vines  and  nuts  and 
fruits.  There  was  a  stream  behind  the  village;  there  was 
an  abundance  of  game;  the  women  tilled  a  little,  giving 
us  a  store  of  wheat  and  barley;  we  had  sturgeon  from  the 
not  far  distant  greater  river  to  which  we  made  expeditions 
at  times,  and  there  were  the  little  half -wild  horses  to  give 
us  food  in  any  strait.  The  winters  were  not  severe, 
though  the  snow  fell  deeply  and  sometimes  the  famished 
wolves  were  out,  but  all  the  rest  of  the  year  was  beautiful 
and  bountiful  to  us.  Nomads,  mere  wanderers,  our  fore 
fathers  may  have  been,  but  upon  us  had  come  at  last 
something  of  the  home-clinging  way.  What  better  place 
to  guard  and,  if  need  be,  fight  for?  So  it  came  that  we 
were  glad  of  whatever  might  make  us  greater  and  stronger, 
and  we  were  proud  and  glad  of  what  had  come  from  the 
copper  rock,  and  disquieted  because  we  knew  not  where 
to  find  another  like  it. 

Long,  one  night,  were  Hammer  and  I  debating  in  our 
hut  concerning  what  had  become  the  common  problem. 
To  both  of  us  it  seemed  that  there  must  be  more  than  a 
single  rock  in  all  the  world  which  held  that  which  we 
wanted. 


218  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

"And  it  is  not  distant,"  said  Hammer,  "this  other  rock 
of  the  same  kind;  there  may  be  a  host  of  rocks."  Then 
he  spoke  still  more  earnestly.  "We,  even  you  and  I, 
are  the  ones.  We  must  seek  more  copper  and  we  shall 
find  it.  It  lies  somewhere  in  the  gorges,  surely!  Will 
you  come  with  me  until  we  have  gone  far  enough  and 
searched  most  closely?  What  greater  thing  could  we  be 
doing?  Will  you  come  with  me?" 

As  he  well  knew,  he  need  not  have  asked  the  question. 
I  had  long  since  become  as  earnest  as  was  he  in  the  great 
thing  upon  which  so  depended  our  fortunes  and  the  for 
tunes  of  all  our  tribe.  Surely  I  consented,  for  I  had  lost 
myself  in  the  fancy  for  this  wonderful  new  adventure  of 
search  and  labour  which  might  assure  us  weapons  and 
many  other  things  of  a  different  and  better  sort,  and  give 
to  us  of  the  plains  and  hills  an  advantage  over  all  other 
tribes.  I  had  become  a  joyous  copper-seeker  and  earnest 
artisan!  My  fortunes  should  be  henceforth  joined  with 
those  of  Hammer,  as  he  would  have  it,  and  as  it  was  now 
pledged.  What  if  we  should  somewhere  find  the  red  sub 
stance  in  abundance  and  perhaps  not  so  firmly  imbedded 
in  such  rock !  What  things  would  happen  then !  Utterly 
abandoned  were  we  now  in  this  quest  to  come.  What 
cared  we  for  the  women  or  the  breaking  of  the  horses  or 
the  wild  chase  of  the  stag  or  urus?  A  greater  thing  was 
ours !  Soon  were  we  prepared  for  the  journey,  the  course 
of  which  we  had  not  yet  determined,  except  that  it  must 
follow  the  base  of  the  low  mountain  range  and  lead  up  its 
many  valleys  and  gorges  and  canyons  until,  if  fortune 
were  with  us,  we  had  come  upon  what  we  sought. 

Straight  descendants  of  the  first  Tamers  were  we,  so 


THE  ARMOURERS  219 

our  legends  said,  and  there  were  horses  with  us,  though 
many  other  tribes  had  not  yet  learned  to  tame  and  use 
them,  or  sometimes  count  upon  them  for  meat.  Should 
we  take  horses?  It  was  finally  decided  between  us  that 
we  should,  since  with  the  region  close  about  us  we  were 
of  course  well  acquainted,  and  searching  would  be  wasted 
in  it,  and  it  would  be  a  day's  journey  afoot  along  the  base 
of  the  range,  which  trended  to  the  southwest,  before  we 
could  reach  the  place  where  began  the  succession  of  up 
ward  extending  ravines  in  which  we  hoped  to  find  more  of 
the  red  metal.  We  hoped  this,  not  from  any  definite 
belief,  but  because  so  many  of  these  openings  resembled 
the  one  in  which  Hammer  had  made  the  first  discovery. 
After  we  had  reached  the  first  of  these  we  could  turn  our 
horses  loose,  knowing  that  they  would  find  their  way  back 
to  the  village. 

We  caught  our  rough  little  steeds,  small,  hairy  and 
shaggy,  but  sinewy  and  enduring,  and,  with  ropes  of  hide 
about  our  shoulders,  fastened  to  us  the  heavy  hammers  we 
hoped  to  need,  and,  after  the  usual  struggle  with  the 
animals,  got  fairly  on  our  way.  A  half  day's  ride  brought 
us  to  the  first  ravine,  and  then  we  took  off  the  rawhide 
halters,  which  were  our  only  bridles,  and  let  the  horses  go. 
They  started  back  whinnying  and  galloping.  The  horse 
of  the  time  took  most  unkindly  to  the  carrying  of  any 
burden.  He  was  to  learn  much  concerning  that  matter 
very  soon. 

Two  of  the  openings  of  the  hills  we  explored  most  thor 
oughly  that  day.  They  were  not  at  a  great  distance  from 
each  other  and  were  very  much  alike  —  narrow  gorges  or 
ravines  with  narrow  bottoms  and  almost  perpendicular 


220  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

sides.  We  found  nothing  to  even  remind  us  of  the  sort 
of  rock  in  which  Hammer  had  discovered  copper  in  the 
first  place.  We  took  up  our  march  again  and,  just  at 
nightfall,  came  to  an  opening,  not  so  narrow  and  gloomy 
in  appearance  as  the  others.  This  we  would  explore  in 
the  morning,  and  so  we  lay  down  for  the  night  before  a 
little  fire  we  had  built.  It  was  early  autumn  and  was 
not  cold. 

The  old  men  in  the  tribe  do  not  all  have  the  same 
thoughts  as  to  dreams,  the  things  which  come  in  the  night 
when  one  is  sleeping  and  make  him  think  he  is  alive  at 
some  other  place,  or,  at  least,  seeing  and  doing  other 
things  than  those  which  are.  Those  whom  I  think  are 
the  most  sensible  say  that  dreams  are  as  nothing,  but 
others  say  that  they  mean  much  and  may  speak  of  the 
past  or  even  foretell  what  is  to  come.  I  know  nothing 
of  it,  but  I  know  that  I  dreamed  much  as  I  lay  beside  the 
fire  that  night,  and  that  I  thought  myself,  first,  in  a  land 
of  lakes  and  strange  abodes  supported  above  the  water, 
and  that,  later,  I  was  again  searching  wTith  Hammer  for 
the  rocks  with  the  red  metal  in  them.  I  dreamed,  too, 
that  we  came  to  a  small  round  mountain  that  was  made 
up  altogether  of  copper,  and  that  all  around  it  was  more  of 
the  copper  made  into  spears  and  arrow-heads  and  knives 
and  axes  and  all  manner  of  other  things  we  needed  in  our 
huts.  It  was  a  very  foolish  dream,  but  it  made  me 
pleased  wiien  I  woke  in  the  night,  though,  as  I  have  said, 
I  had  no  faith  in  such  things. 

It  was  a  wonderfully  shining  morning  which  came  to 
us  and,  as  we  ate,  I  still  kept  my  high  spirits  from  the 
dream  and  was  so  filled  with  cheer  and  made  such  bouy- 


THE  ARMOURERS 

ant  talk  that  Hammer  said  I  must  have  arisen  early  and 
gone  into  the  forest  and  eaten  of  a  root  which,  it  was  said, 
would  make  men  laugh.  I  cared  not.  I  was  most  cour 
ageous  and  full  of  lightness.  I  felt  that  the  Things,  the 
makers  of  happenings,  in  which  we  believed  a  little,  though 
heeding  little  as  well,  were  going  to  smile  upon  us  some 
time  that  day.  Of  this  I  spoke  afterward  to  Hammer 
many  times. 

We  started  up  the  opening  in  the  hills,  and  the  prospect 
was  fairer  than  we  had  seen  yet.  It  was  not  a  gorge,  but 
wide  enough  to  be  almost  like  a  narrow  ascending  valley, 
and  its  sides  were  not  perpendicular,  but  sloping  and  bear 
ing  many  stunted  oaks  and  pines,  and  shrubbery,  as  did 
the  bottom.  Over  the  bottom  were  distributed  boulders 
of  all  sizes,  and  some  of  them  appeared  certainly  not  to 
have  come  from  the  mountainsides  adjoining,  so  different 
were  they  in  appearance  from  the  rock  of  the  sloping 
walls.  Such  a  thing  I  had  often  seen,  however,  and  I 
thought  little  of  it.  Hardly  had  we  entered  the  gap  than 
we  began  testing  the  rocks  with  our  heavy  hammers, 
battering  away  at  them  until  the  moss  and  incrustations 
of  any  kind  were  knocked  away  and  the  nature  of  the 
rocks  made  clear  to  us.  Our  hammers,  which  I  have  not 
yet  described,  were  most  excellent  for  this.  They  were 
of  much  weight  and  of  the  hardest  kind  of  stones  of  proper 
size  that  we  could  find  in  our  region.  These  stones, 
half  as  large  as  a  man's  head,  we  had  grooved  around, 
after  much  labour  in  the  chipping,  and,  fitting  in  the 
grooves  and  holding  firmly,  had  laid  withes  of  the  tough 
est  willow,  which  were  twisted  into  handles  of  the  length 
we  wanted.  So  we  made  hammers  which  would  crush 


222  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

the  common  rock  most  easily.  Never  were  better  ham 
mers  than  these  of  the  hard,  unbreaking  porphyry  and 
greenstone,  though  these  were  not  the  names  we  called 
them,  if,  indeed,  we  gave  them  names  at  all.  It  was  suffi 
cient  that  they  served  our  purpose  well.  So  we  hammered 
our  way  up  the  slope,  but  found  nothing  to  reward  us.  At 
midday  we  rested  for  a  time  and  ate,  and  then  took  up 
our  testing  again,  not  far  from  each  other,  with  Hammer, 
as  it  chanced,  a  little  in  the  lead.  We  had  not  gone  half 
a  furlong  when  there  came  from  him  the  longest,  loudest 
and  most  ear-splitting  yell  I  had  ever  heard.  I  was  with 
him  in  a  moment. 

Hammer  was  standing  beside  a  rock  of  about  the  height 
of  his  shoulder.  It  was,  in  a  general  way,  not  unlike  the 
rocks  through  which  we  had  passed,  but  it  had  the  differ 
ence  that  it  was  not  altogether  smooth  of  surface  and  that 
here  and  there  upon  it  obtruded  lumps  and  points.  One 
of  these  points  Hammer  had  smitten  in  his  testing  and 
now  it  glittered  in  the  sun,  a  spike  of  purest  copper !  There 
could  be  no  mistake  about  it.  We  had  found  what  we 
were  seeking.  In  that  one  rock,  could  we  but  in  any  way 
break  it  apart,  were  hundreds  of  the  new  and  amazing 
weapons  which  were  such  prizes.  We  attacked  the  most 
obtruding  and  slender  and  most  promising  of  the  outstand 
ing  parts  with  our  great  hammers,  working  most  feverishly 
until  we  sweated  like  the  wild  boar  at  the  end  of  the 
long  hunt.  I  won  in  the  race,  and  very  proud  I  was. 
The  spikelike  mass  upon  which  I  hammered,  beating  it 
back  and  forth  and  this  way  and  that,  parted  at  last  from 
the  mass  and  fell  to  the  ground  only  a  moment  before  that 
upon  which  Hammer  had  been  spending  his  mighty  blows. 


THE  ARMOURERS 

We  had  what  would  make  a  spear-head  apiece,  enough  in 
themselves  to  have  made  our  journey  worth  while! 

All  day  we  laboured,  beating  off  some  half-score  of  the 
red  protuberances,  and  then,  to  breathe  ourselves,  went 
farther  up  the  somewhat  narrowing  valley  to  learn  whether 
or  not  there  were  other  rocks  of  the  kind  which  meant  so 
much  to  us.  One  other  we  found,  to  our  great  delight, 
but  one  only,  though  we  followed  the  defile  until  it  lost 
itself  in  what  was  little  more  than  a  crevice  in  the  now 
close  looming  mountainside. 

We  resolved  that  for  two  days  we  would  labour  on  the 
rocks  and  that  then  we  would  return  to  the  village,  where 
Hammer  would  work  upon  the  copper  we  had  gained,  and 
I  would  return  with  others  to  do  what  we  could  with 
further  hammering  of  the  two  rocks  and  make,  perhaps, 
some  further  search.  That  plan  we  did  not  carry  out. 
It  was  about  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  of  the  first  of 
these  two  days  when  I  heard  from  the  forest  of  beech  and 
oak  which  lay  at  the  foot  of  the  slope  the  call  of  the 
grouse  —  doubtless  feeding  on  the  many  nuts.  We  had, 
in  our  excitement  and  absorption,  been  eating  only  of  the 
dried  food  we  had  brought  with  us,  and  my  stomach  clam 
oured  for  roasted  grouse  as  soon  as  the  cries  of  the  birds 
reached  me.  It  affected  Hammer  as  it  did  me,  and  I  took 
my  bow  and  arrows  from  where  they  were  left  at  our 
sleeping  place  and  crept  into  the  forest.  There  were  grouse 
in  abundance  there  and  soon  I  had  a  pair  big  enough  and 
fat  enough  to  satisfy  even  such  labourers  as  we  with  a 
supper  worth  the  eating.  I  had  gone  well  into  the  wood 
in  my  hunting,  and  now  strode  swiftly  toward  the  gap, 
paying  little  attention  to  what  was  about  me.  So  care- 


A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

lessly  did  I  walk  that  I  stumbled  sharply  against  a  small 
rock  which  lay  half  hidden  beneath  the  brown  leaves 
which  were  beginning  to  fall  thickly.  I  glanced  down 
ward  at  the  obstacle,  which  was  a  flattish  stone  not  a 
quarter  of  a  yard  across,  and,  I  know  not  why,  save  that 
I  was  at  this  time  curious  about  all  rocks,  stooped  and 
turned  it  over.  Its  bottom,  clean  upon  the  sand,  was  red ! 
It  was  copper!  Then  went  out  from  me  a  yell  which 
could  by  no  means  have  been  less  mighty  than  was  that 
of  Hammer  when  he  had  found  the  rich  rock  in  the  defile. 
He  could  have  heard  me  from  anywhere.  His  answering 
shout  came  back,  and  soon  he  was  with  me  looking  upon 
what  I  had  discovered.  We  stood  there  silently  for  a 
moment  and  then  involuntarily  looked  about  us.  Among 
the  beech  leaves  on  every  side  lay  smaller  or  greater  rocks 
of  similar  kind.  We  turned  some  of  them  over.  They 
were  copper,  seemingly  almost  pure  and  not  so  great  of 
size  that  they  could  not  be  beaten  apart.  Then,  it  seems 
to  me,  that  for  a  time  we  lost  our  senses.  We  shouted  to 
each  other  without  meaning  and  capered  about  like  wolves 
in  the  moonlight.  We  could  not  but  know  that  a  new 
thing,  one  of  the  greatest  ever  known,  had  come  to  men, 
and  that  we  and  our  tribe  would  be  the  first  to  own  it  in 
abundance.  No  longer  at  this  time  would  we  trifle  with 
the  two  rocks  in  the  valley ! 

Long  we  talked  that  night  beside  our  fire,  glorying  in 
our  good  fortune  and  wondering,  too,  not  a  little,  how  it 
could  be  that  copper  should  exist  in  such  a  form.  Much 
we  speculated  and  suggested  of  this  strange  thing  widen 
had  brought  such  fortune  to  us.  Hammer  thought  it 
possible  that  the  red  metal  was  something  which  grew  of 


THE  ARMOURERS 

itself  where  there  were  the  things  in  the  earth  and  water 
which  gave  such  growth,  whatever  it  was  it  needed  for  its 
formation  and  sustenance,  but  in  this  I  could  not  agree 
with  him.  I  could  not  believe  that  anything  that  was 
hard  as  rock  and  did  not  change  its  shape  as  the  trees  and 
plants  did,  could  really  grow  of  itself.  I  believed  that  all 
solid  things  must  have  been  so  always  and  that,  if  they 
were  found  out  of  what  seemed  to  have  been  their  place, 
they  must  have  been  moved  by  something  else,  it  might 
be  by  men  —  though  that  could  hardly  be  so  with  huge 
rocks  —  or  by  great  floods,  or,  it  might  be,  by  the  ice, 
which,  in  ages  gone,  had  crept  down  from  the  far  north 
and  pushed  many  things  before  it.  No  one  could  tell. 
Perhaps  the  copper  had  not  moved  far  at  most.  It  might 
have  come  down  from  the  mountains.  We  ended  the 
talk  as  vain;  it  was  sufficient  that  we  had  found  what  we 
sought.  We  had  much  to  do  on  the  morrow. 

At  daylight  we  took  up  our  journey  for  the  village, 
carrying  with  us  only  what  we  had  beaten  from  the  rocks, 
and  one  of  the  smallest  of  the  fragments  we  had  found 
among  the  beeches  and  oaks.  Henceforth  our  work  with 
copper  was  to  be  in  a  different  way.  We  had  reasoned 
upon  it  and  had  decided  what  we  would  do.  At  first  it  had 
seemed  wise  to  move  our  belongings  to  where  the  metal 
lay  to  our  hand,  but  there  were  other  things  to  be  con 
sidered. 

The  mouth  of  the  wide  ravine  where  Hammer  had 
found  the  first  red-pronged  rock,  near  a  blasted  and  hollow 
tree  trunk,  faced  the  village  squarely,  and,  fortunately 
for  him,  there  also  stood  near  an  almost  square  boulder 
of  the  hardest  stone,  of  about  half  its  height,  which  served 


A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

him  as  an  anvil.  Such  another  rock  it  would  be  hard 
to  find  in  a  convenient  locality,  and  we  had  seen  none  like 
it  in  the  beech  wood  or  in  the  ravine  of  the  two  rocks  on 
which  we  had  been  working.  It  would  cost  labour  to 
transport  the  metal  from  the  wood  to  the  village,  but,  once 
it  was  there,  it  would  be  where  we  could  most  easily  con 
vert  it  into  weapons.  We  would  be  near  the  village  and 
all  its  conveniences,  and,  besides,  we  would  be  where  those 
would  come  who  wished  to  barter,  as  we  knew  they  must  in 
time.  Little  traffic  had  there  been  between  the  tribes, 
however  friendly  they  might  be,  at  any  time,  for  the  things 
possessed  were  very  much  alike  and,  besides,  the  barter 
ing  was  something  new.  Our  ancestors  did  not  barter. 
They  took  what  they  wanted  or,  if  not  strong  enough, 
must  go  without  it.  Relations  had  changed,  and  now 
men  were  engaged  in  fighting  each  other  only  part  of  the 
time.  Now  a  new  reason  for  trade  had  come,  and  we  felt 
its  importance  and  its  promise.  So  it  was  resolved  be 
tween  us  that  the  forging  should  be  done  in  the  ravine 
facing  the  village,  and  the  copper  brought  from  where 
we  had  found  it  in  the  wood.  We  could  use  our  little 
horses. 

It  is  hard  to  tell  how  great  was  the  excitement  in  the 
village  when  we  showed  what  we  had  with  us,  and  the 
news  of  our  discovery  went  about. 

Excellent  and  very  curious  was  the  story  of  our  tribe 
from  that  same  day.  There  began  a  new  life,  for  we  had 
another  interest  now  than  mere  living  upon  what  the 
earth  and  land  and  water  might  give  us  for  the  eating  or 
the  wearing.  Surely  never  before  did  a  tribe  of  men  so 
change  in  character,  because  never  before  had  arisen 


THE  ARMOURERS  227 

conditions  so  splendidly  compelling.  I  devised  double 
pouches  from  the  skins  we  had,  one  to  hang  on  each  side 
of  a  horse,  and  the  youth  of  the  tribe  were  set  at  work 
bringing  the  copper  rocks  from  the  distant  forest,  while 
men  there  toiled  to  break  the  larger  ones  to  fragments 
suited  for  such  carrying.  There  was  a  procession  of  boys 
and  horses  between  the  village  and  the  treasure  ground, 
and  soon  there  arose  a  small  mountain  of  the  copper  rocks 
beside  the  stone  anvil  near  the  great  tree  trunk,  and  the 
sound  of  hammering  never  ceased.  I  worked  with  Ham 
mer  at  the  shaping,  as  did  two  other  men,  and  it  was  not 
long,  since  the  anvil  rock  would  accommodate  but  four 
workers,  before  we  had  rolled  down  from  farther  up  the 
valley  four  or  five  more  of  the  hard  rocks  to  also  serve  as 
they  might  for  other  anvils,  though  to  accomplish  this 
required  many  men  as  did  the  later  hard  work  in  chip 
ping  the  tops  of  the  new  rocks  down  to  the  proper  level. 
Then  still  more  of  the  men  were  set  to  work  to  learn  the 
way  of  the  hammering  and  shaping,  and  became  expert 
according  to  their  gifts,  though  none  could  ever  hope  to 
equal  the  way  of  Hammer.  How  he  rejoiced  in  his  own 
skill!  There  appeared  nothing  he  could  not  fashion  from 
the  glittering  copper  brought  to  him.  With  mighty 
blows  at  first  he  would  beat  the  metal  more  nearly  into 
the  shape  desired  than  could  any  other  of  us  while  wield 
ing  the  heaviest  hammers,  and  then,  such  crude  shape 
gained,  it  was  marvellous  to  watch  him.  He  played  with 
the  thing  as  if  he  loved  it.  The  sound  of  his  beating,  as 
he  changed  from  each  hammer  to  a  lighter  one  in  his 
fashioning,  was  like  the  slope  from  hand  to  finger  tip,  un 
til  the  gentle  "tap-tap"  could  be  scarcely  heard  and  be- 


228  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

Heath  his  hand  lay,  finally,  such  perfect  weapon  or  utensil 
as  had  never  been  before.  Once,  in  sheer  bravado  it 
may  be,  he  devised  and  made  a  brooch  so  delicate  and 
fine  and  beautiful  that  all  stood  wondering,  and  there 
came  dark  looks  and  jealousies  among  both  men  and 
women,  but  he  gave  the  splendid  bauble  to  the  most  aged 
of  the  women,  saying  that  old  women  had  once  been  young, 
and  so  the  faces  brightened.  Very  wise  was  Hammer  in 
his  way,  and  both  he  and  I  were  above  the  woman  hunger. 
As  for  the  lucky  beldame,  she  was  the  proudest  among  us 
all  and  would  surely  die  most  unwillingly,  since,  now,  the 
world  was  so  good ! 

We  went  together,  Hammer  and  I,  and  more  thor 
oughly  explored  the  forest  and  found  that  the  "float" 
there,  as  we  had  called  it,  would  last  perhaps  a  lifetime  at 
the  rate  we  were  using  it,  and  found  also  that  there  were 
many  of  the  copper  boulders  in  the  ravines  and  glens 
farther  along  the  mountainsides  than  we  had  explored  at 
first.  This  discovery  it  was  which  caused  me  to  have  a 
new  belief  as  to  whence  the  copper  had  come.  One  of  the 
heights  of  the  range  had  once  been  a  fire  mountain,  as  was 
easy  to  see  from  where  its  vomitings  had  run  down  the 
valleys,  and  was  it  not  possible  that  the  copper  had  thus 
been  tossed  up  from  the  very  bowels  of  the  earth?  This 
I  thought  must  be  true,  and  Hammer  agreed  with  me  re 
garding  the  thing.  So  concerning  that  we  gave  no  fur 
ther  thought.  It  came  at  last  that  those  working  in  and 
about  the  forest  built  themselves  huts  there  and  that 
another  village  arose,  though  not  a  large  one,  and  it  came, 
too,  that  others  built  huts  along  what  was  now  become  a 
beaten  highway  such  as  never  had  been  seen,  and  so  we 


THE  ARMOURERS  229 

were  for  a  time  a  long  and  straggling  community.     Then 
came  another  change  and  a  most  potent  one. 

Some  leagues  to  the  north  of  us  was  a  village  of  a  strong 
tribe  with  whom  we  had  always  been  on  close  and  pleas 
ant  terms,  for  they  were  of  our  own  blood  and  so  we  un 
derstood  each  other  well.  Thus  it  chanced  that  they  were 
the  first  to  barter  with  us  for  our  excellent  copper  weapons 
and  that  there  was  much  commingling  of  the  people  and, 
as  a  consequence,  from  that  man-woman  happening  which 
always  seems  to  come  when  the  youth  of  each  kind  are 
brought  much  together,  the  young  men  and  women  of 
each  tribe  began  taking  each  other  for  mates  and  so  the 
commingling  became  still  closer  and  better.  Then  fol 
lowed  what  was  most  wise.  There  was  held  a  council  of 
the  chief  men  of  each  tribe,  in  which  Hammer  and  I  had 
much  to  say,  and  it  was  decided  that  the  two  should  join 
and  that  the  formidable  tribe  thus  made  should  build  its 
village  upon  the  copper  fields.  There  were  shelter  and 
water  and  streams,  and  game  and  fish,  and  it  was  a  fine 
village  site  in  every  way.  And  thus  it  came.  Barriers 
were  built  that  we  might  defy  all  enemies.  Not  a  man  or 
youth  but  had  keen  copper-headed  spear  and  arrows  and 
knife  and  axe  and  was  trained  in  the  sharpening  and  care 
of  them.  We  were  bravely  weaponed.  Not  always, 
though,  did  we  use  the  copper  arrows,  for  they  were  too 
precious  to  be  shot  lightly  in  the  hunting,  those  made  of 
stone  still  serving  for  the  killing  of  the  smaller  game. 
Then  followed  a  small  thing  which  proved  in  the  end  a 
great  one :  a  youth  of  the  tribe,  that  he  might  not  easily 
lose  his  copper  arrows,  had  tied  the  scarlet  feather  of  a 
bird  to  each  arrow  shaft  close  to  its  end  in  a  little  groove, 


230  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

that  it  might  not  hit  the  bow  and  mar  his  shooting.  The 
brilliant  feather  would  reveal  the  arrow  wherever  it  might 
chance  to  fall,  which  was  a  good  thing.  But  more  came 
of  it.  The  youth  soon  learned  that  an  arrow  flew  more 
smoothly  and  evenly  and  that  with  it  thus  feathered  he 
was  far  surer  of  his  game.  This  was  counted  a  curious 
thing,  and  some  held  that  the  red  colour  made  a  spell  or 
charm  and  so  guided  the  arrow  rightly,  but  with  the  try 
ing  of  other  feathers  of  any  colour,  even  those  from  the 
drab  geese,  it  was  found  that  they  served  as  well.  The 
gray  goose  shaft  sufficed.  It  was  most  curious,  but  it  was 
a  potent  thing,  and  soon  all  arrows  were  thus  feathered 
and  the  tribe  became  the  greatest  of  all  archers.  Bad 
would  it  be  for  any  foeman  who  might  attack  us.  Much 
I  thought  upon  this  thing  and  of  how  always  it  seemed  that 
one  discovery  was  followed  in  its  needs  and  new  calls  by 
another. 

There  happened  about  this  time  another  thing  most 
interesting  to  us  all  and  fine  in  its  results,  following  what 
was  conceived  by  Hammer.  He  had  long  looked  en 
viously  upon  the  smaller  boulder  of  the  two  we  had  found 
in  the  canyon,  because  it  seemed  so  full  of  copper  of  the 
finest  quality,  though  we  paid  no  attention  to  it  since  we 
had  such  an  abundance  of  the  "float"  about  us.  He 
would  not  be  denied,  though  I  made  much  sport  of  him. 

Hammer  caused  a  pit  to  be  dug  close  beside  the  boulder 
and  a  little  deeper  than  its  height,  and  the  bottom  of  this 
he  had  filled  with  the  dryest  of  wood.  Then  he  brought  to 
the  pit's  side  a  veritable  mountain  of  wood  as  dry,  and  was 
ready  for  the  test.  The  strong  men  of  the  tribe  were 
summoned  and  there  was  a  great  upheaval  of  the  rock 


THE  ARMOURERS  231 

with  levers,  and  it  was  tumbled  down  upon  its  bed  of 
wood,  which  was  promptly  fired.  As  the  flames  rose 
other  wood  was  heaped  upon  the  rock  until  it  was  hidden 
from  view,  and  so,  night  and  day,  was  the  great  hot  fire 
continued,  men  bringing  more  fuel  all  the  time  and  work 
ing  by  watches  to  keep  at  reddest  heat  the  bed  of  coals 
in  the  midst  «of  which  the  rock  lay.  None  cared  to  ap 
proach  very  near  that  astounding  fire.  It  was  on  the 
fourth  night  that  the  climax  came,  and  well  it  was  for 
the  firemen  at  the  time  that  they  were  resting  behind  a 
boulder  at  a  little  distance  from  the  flames,  for  there  came 
an  explosion  which  fairly  lifted  the  village  from  its  sleep 
and  sent  that  copper  rock  in  fragments  in  all  directions. 
Great  was  the  reward  of  the  experiment,  and  it  was  good 
that  we  should  thus  learn  what  fire  could  do. 

And  ever  our  bartering  increased  with  the  tribes  on 
every  side.  Those  distant  purchased  the  new  weapons 
and  those  still  farther  away  saw  and  must  have  them,  un 
til  our  community  became  the  most  prosperous,  as  it  was 
becoming  the  most  numerous,  in  all  that  far-extending 
country  of  plain  and  hill  and  forest.  There  came  even 
some  from  that  huge  illimitable  forest  to  the  south,  peo 
pled  by  the  tall  strong  men  who  had  come  from  the  far 
East  even  as  had  come  our  own  people,  though  at  some 
different  time,  albeit  with  these  our  trading  was  but  a 
little,  for  they  were  fierce  and  dangerous  and  we  cared 
not  much  for  their  close  acquaintance,  despite  our  grow 
ing  strength.  As  for  Hammer  and  me,  we  were  growing 
older  and  less  inclined  to  risk  or  venture.  Yet  there  wa& 
no  abatement  in  our  constant  thought  of  all  that  might  be 
done  with  the  red  copper.  There  followed  a  time  when 


A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

Hammer  spoke  less  often  and  seemed  lost  in  some  new 
thought.  One  day  he  told  me  of  it. 

"If,"  he  said,  "we  could  only  melt  and  mould  the  cop 
per!"  And  he  said  also,  "You  and  I  will  go  to  the  village 
and  work  there  a  while  and  try  to  do  certain  things."  So 
I  went  with  him. 

The  flat  rock  which  had  been  our  anvil  was  in  its  place, 
and  sound  as  ever,  seemingly,  stood  the  hollow  tree  trunk 
near  it,  and  I  saw  that  it  was  at  this  trunk  with  the  hollow 
opening  at  its  bottom  that  Hammer  looked  first  and  ex 
amined  most  carefully.  In  the  times  of  our  working  here 
I  had  noticed  one  thing  about  this  opening  at  the  base  of 
the  trunk  —  that,  especially  when  the  wind  blew  up  the 
valley,  it  roared  and  whistled  up  the  trunk  through  the 
opening  and  even  drew  curvingly  the  flames  of  any  fire 
which  chanced  to  be  made  near  it.  Could  it  be  this,  I 
thought,  that  was  now  in  the  mind  of  Hammer?  I  was 
not  mistaken. 

He  called  to  the  men  in  the  village  and  bade  them 
bring  from  the  banks  of  the  stream  behind  the  village  a 
great  quantity  of  the  soft  tenacious  clay  such  as  we  used 
in  making  our  pottery,  at  which  work  both  men  and  women 
among  us  were  most  skilful,  and  this  clay  he  spread 
upon  the  earth  in  and  before  the  opening,  thus  making  a 
clay  platform.  He  also  plastered  the  inside  of  the  trunk 
upward  as  far  as  he  could  reach,  with  this  same  clay; 
then  upon  the  clay  platform  he  made  a  fire,  not  too  high, 
and  fed  this  fire  until  nightfall,  and  for  some  time  later. 
Then  we  slept,  for  we  were  older  men  now  and  cared  not 
to  work  into  the  night. 

The  clay  floor  and  the  clay  above  it  were  well  baked 


THE  ARMOURERS  233 

when  we  came  to  the  tree  in  the  morning,  though  not  yet 
enough,  Hammer  said,  yet  he  did  not  at  once  rebuild  the 
fire,  but  sent  for  a  slender  and  knowing  lad  of  the  village 
to  whom  he  gave  a  task  of  merit.  The  youth  was  to 
wriggle  his  slim  body  through  the  opening  and  ascend  and 
plaster  the  trunk  inside  from  bottom  to  top!  It  was  a 
feat,  but  the  youngster  was  equal  to  it,  with  the  aid  pro 
vided  him.  The  men  cut  down  a  tree  and  from  it  took  a 
long  slender  limb  equal  to  the  height  of  the  dead  trunk, 
and  sheared  off  its  twigs  and  many  side  branches,  leaving 
always  enough  of  each  to  make  a  foothold.  They  climbed 
the  trunk  and  drew  up  the  limb  and  let  it  down  inside 
and  thus  provided  the  boy  with  a  sort  of  ladder  from  which 
to  do  his  work.  The  clay  was  passed  up  to  him  at  first 
and  later  slung  down  to  him  from  the  top  in  a  skin  pouch 
which  one  of  the  men  drew  up.  Two  days  it  required  for 
the  resolute  lad  to  complete  the  work  well,  but  at  its 
end  he  had  bestowed  upon  him  such  spear-head  and  ar 
rows  and  knife  and  hatchet  of  glittering  copper  as  made 
him  mightiest  of  small  warriors  and  loftiest  of  men  among 
a  thousand.  Then  in  the  clay-bottomed  and  lined  old 
tree  trunk  a  mighty  fire  was  built  by  Hammer  and  kept 
going  until  the  clay  was  turned  to  brick.  He  had  made  a 
furnace!  The  fire  roared  up  the  opening  as  if  drawn  by 
all  the  demons  of  the  sky  in  time  of  storm. 

Now  Hammer  took  a  lump  of  the  clay  and,  working  very 
carefully,  pressed  down  into  it,  to  half  its  thickness,  a 
copper  axe;  upon  this  he  laid  a  part,  exceedingly  thin,  of 
the  bladder  of  a  stag,  and  afterward  he  pressed  down  more 
of  the  clay,  so  that  the  axe  was  all  embedded  save  a  por 
tion  of  its  handle;  he  then  left  the  mess  to  dry  for  a  time 


234  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

in  the  sun,  and  later  heated  it  for  a  long  time  in  a  fire 
outside.  When  he  drew  it  forth  and  it  had  cooled,  the 
wooden  handle  outside  the  clay  was  burned  away,  and,  by 
a  little  careful  prying,  the  two  halves  of  the  mould  which 
had  been  separated  by  the  bladder  came  apart.  These 
he  fitted  together  again  and  enclosed  in  another  mass  of 
clay,  leaving  open  only  the  opening  into  the  hollow  mould. 
The  clay  was  set  upon  the  ground,  with  the  hole  upward. 

Next  Hammer  brought  from  the  village  a  covered  earthen 
pot,  not  very  deep,  into  one  side  of  which  he  made  a 
hole  to  receive  the  end  of  a  long  handle  of  wood,  though 
before  he  put  the  handle  in  he  covered  it  also  with  clay 
which  he  baked  about  it  in  a  long  fire.  He  had  now  a 
vessel  which  he  could  thrust  unharmed  into  even  such  a 
dreadful  furnace  as  he  had  made  within  the  base  of  the 
tree.  Into  it  he  placed  half  a  dozen  ingots  of  the  purest 
copper  and  thrust  it,  with  its  lid  on,  into  the  white-red 
heart  of  the  flaming  coals.  The  long  handle  was  propped 
into  place  upon  a  crotch  near  the  flames,  and  then  we 
fed  the  fire,  and  waited ! 

The  day  passed  into  the  night,  one  of  us  awake  at  all 
times  and  feeding  the  raging  furnace  as  it  needed.  Morn 
ing  came,  and  then  Hammer,  who  had  been  sleeping  last, 
arose  and  looked  at  me  and  beckoned.  Together  we 
neared  the  white-hot  mass  of  coals  and  embers  and,  taking 
hold  of  the  long  handle  very  carefully,  withdrew  the  pot 
from  where  it  rested  in  the  eye-blistering  furnace.  We 
took  it  away  from  the  fire  and  rested  it  a  moment  on  the 
ground,  while,  with  a  long  stick  in  hand,  Hammer  lifted 
off  the  still  red  cover.  Then  rose  such  a  yell  of  triumph 
as  had  not  been  heard  since  we  found  the  copper  in  the 


THE  ARMOURERS  235 

forest.  The  metal  had  melted!  We  did  not  speak. 
Carefully  as  men  had  ever  performed  an  action,  and  hold 
ing  the  ungainly  handle  firmly,  we  poured  the  molten 
stuff  into  the  hole  in  the  awaiting  mold.  It  filled  and 
overflowed  and  ran  upon  the  ground,  but  we  cared  not. 
What  was  left  we  poured  into  a  hollow  in  the  soil  and 
then  threw  ourselves  upon  the  ground  to  wait  again.  It 
was  noon  when  we  broke  away  the  clay,  and  later,  when 
the  mould  had  cooled  enough  to  be  handled,  the  two  parts 
separated  easily  and  there  came  forth  a  copper  axe !  The 
great  thing  was  accomplished!  It  was  not  a  perfect  axe, 
but  it  would  be  so  after  a  little  grinding  and  polishing. 
Henceforth  the  making  of  copper  things  would  be  done 
in  a  new  and  easier  way.  Furthermore,  one  man,  two 
men  indeed,  would  die  something  more  content.  The 
tribe  —  the  whole  world  —  had  a  part  in  what  had  come 
that  day ! 

And  now  for  a  time  there  were  life  and  labour  and  clam 
our  in  the  old  village  again,  because  of  the  tree  furnace 
and  the  convenient  clay,  but  later  we  learned  to  build  a 
better  furnace  and  to  provide  at  the  forest  village  all 
things  required  for  easier  casting.  With  the  training  to 
the  labour  from  the  getting  of  the  copper  to  the  time  when 
it  was  made  into  weapons  or  other  things,  there  came, 
too,  a  new  orderliness  and  sense  of  what  was  best  among 
us,  and  we  established  what  was  something  like  a  govern 
ment;  in  a  council  of  the  older  men,  and  less  like  the  ways 
of  the  barbarian,  we  sometimes  met  who  had  no  law  save 
that  of  might.  We  feared  them  not,  though  once  the 
ever-dreaded  westward  drift  from  we  know  not  where 
brought  to  our  doors  a  small  horde  of  barbarians  who 


236  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

thought  to  overrun  us  easily,  but  who  fell  in  windrows  at 
our  barricades  before  such  archery  as  ours,  or  died  be 
neath  our  copper  spears  and  axes  and  fled,  a  remnant,  to 
seek  somewhere  an  easier  conquest.  There  were  not  too 
many  left  for  such  adventure,  and  the  tribe  next  to  us, 
a  strong  and  warlike  one,  received  them  fiercely  and 
finished  them  completely. 

But  Hammer  and  I  were  growing  old  now  and,  to  me 
especially,  came  a  weakness  which  I  could  not  overcome. 
I  was  sick  long  and  was  well  tended,  though  it  did  not 
avail,  I  know  not  why,  for  I  had  but  little  pain  and  stifl 
helped  to  advise,  as  was  my  duty  as  one  of  the  elder  coun 
cil,  and  still  felt  every  interest  in  the  welfare  of  my  pros 
perous  tribe.  Prosperous  indeed  it  was,  for  now  we  and 
what  we  possessed  were  known  to  all.  From  far  and  wide 
came  the  riches  of  the  time  to  us  —  many  things  —  deep 
furs  from  the  north,  amber  from  the  western  sea,  and  a 
host  of  other  things  of  worth.  And,  as  the  barter  grew, 
so  did  a  greater  acquaintance  between  the  tribes  of  all 
the  land,  and  all  learned  much  and  came  to  understand 
each  other  better  and  what  was  beyond  the  region  of 
each.  All  this  because  of  our  great  discovery  and  of 
what  we  had  done  with  it ! 

And  might  there  not  yet,  I  dreamed,  be  hidden  in  the 
rocks  other  and  even  more  useful  metals  which  men  would 
sometimes  find  and  smelt?  These  thoughts  pleased  me 
much  in  the  days  when  I  lay  helpless  and  weakening  from 
day  to  day,  and  much  I  spoke  of  them  in  the  times  when 
Hammer  sat  beside  me  after  bringing  such  food  as  I  could 
eat.  But  it  was  not  for  long ! 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  SAILORS 

I  HAD  been  sleeping,  pleasantly  enough,  though  dream 
ing  of  a  noisy  clanging  of  hammers  in  a  forest.  I 
awoke  to  find  myself  stretched  lazily  upon  the  sand, 
to  hear  the  lapping  of  waves  and  look  out  upon  blue  waters 
to  the  westward,  it  must  be,  for  it  seemed  afternoon  and 
the  sun  was  not  far  above  the  waters,  a  little  to  the  left 
as  I  faced  it.  I  rose  to  my  feet  and  looked  toward  the 
east  and  there  saw  a  host  of  palm  trees,  beyond  them 
green  hills,  and  beyond  these,  mountains.  From  the 
beach  the  land  lay  level  to  the  hills  and,  not  far  from  the 
shore  and  among  the  palm  trees,  were  many  huts  with 
people  moving  about  among  them.  Near  where  I  had 
been  lying  were  a  number  of  boats  hauled  out  upon  the 
sand,  which  boats  I  studied  curiously.  They  did  not 
seem  unknown  to  me,  but  I  was  still  half-sleeping,  for 
the  sea  and  the  air  and  the  day  were  drowsy,  and  the 
leaves  upon  the  palm  trees  were  idle. 

Not  from  the  trunk  of  some  great  tree  had  any  one  of 
these  boats  been  hewn  and  hollowed.  They  were  made 
in  quite  another  manner,  with  a  framework,  and  keel 
and  ribs  of  heavy  wood,  and  a  sheathing,  with  the  seams 
made  water-tight  by  caulking,  and  carried  oars  instead 
of  paddles.  Very  good  boats  they  seemed  to  me,  and 
fit  for  riding  rough  water,  and,  as  my  sleep-clogged  senses 

237 


238  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

cleared,  I  knew,  for  had  I  not  helped  to  build  them?  Most 
excellent  boats  they  were,  and  I  could  see  still  larger  and 
finer  ones  drawn  to  the  beach  at  a  greater  distance  from 
me,  and  others  riding  the  waters  of  the  fair  harbour 
made  by  the  semicircling  curve  of  land.  From  where  the 
larger  boats  were  hauled  up  to  the  shore  there  came  a 
shout : 

"Haste  thee,  Scar;  we  go  out  for  the  fishing!" 
I  hurried  toward  the  boat,  for  I  knew  what  was  my 
present  duty  since  there  were  but  six  of  us  to  man  the 
boat,  which  made  but  a  scanty  crew.  We  were  not  to 
row  far,  however,  only  to  a  place  nearby  the  islands  where 
the  fishing  was  most  promising,  so  that  all  the  oarsmen 
usual  were  not  needed.  My  companions  were  already 
in  their  places  when  I  reached  them,  and  lightly  chided 
me  for  my  delay.  I  took  my  seat  upon  the  rowing  bench 
and  grasped  an  oar  and  soon  we  were  sweeping  toward  a 
passage  between  the  islands.  There  were  in  all  the  world 
no  better  seamen  than  we  of  the  Phoenicia  which  had 
begun  to  live  fairly  with  the  founding  of  our  village,  Akko. 
We  were  not  great  people  as  compared  with  these  who 
were  behind  the  mountains  of  Lebanon,  which  protected 
us  on  the  east  —  there  were  as  yet  but  some  five  thousand 
of  us  to  occupy  the  narrow  land  between  the  mountains 
and  the  sea  —  but  we  had  prospered  greatly  since  ven 
turing  from  the  home  of  our  forefathers,  where  the  great 
Euphrates  finds  the  southern  ocean.  It  was  well  for  us 
that  we  had  found  this  palm  and  wild  vine-clad  country, 
rock-walled  and  safe  as  might  be  from  invasion,  and  had 
taken  up  our  abode  here,  and  sent  to  our  kindred  telling 
them  of  the  soil's  richness  and  of  the  many  spoils  of  the 


THE  SAILORS  239 

sea,  and  so  they  were  following  us,  band  after  band,  form 
ing  new  villages  to  the  north  along  the  coast.  Of  these 
were  Sidon  and  Tyre,  though  as  yet  they  were  but  ham 
lets.  As  for  us  in  Akko,  we  could  ask  no  better  fortune 
than  was  already  ours.  We  were  possessors  of  only  this 
close-bounded  and  curtailed  domain  —  but  what  a  land ! 
Never  was  one  fairer  or  richer  or  better  suited  to  the  needs 
of  such  as  we.  The  palms  which  grew  in  forests  along  the 
sea-lapped  sand  and  wide  beaches  supplied  abundant 
timber  for  our  houses,  while  for  our  ships !  —  already 
our  great  biremes  were  becoming  stately  —  there  were 
the  cedars  of  Lebanon  thick  upon  the  range  behind  us, 
and  oak  and  other  woods  of  strength.  Back  of  the 
sandy  coast  belt  was  the  fertile  plain,  yet  to  become  a 
region  of  gardens  and  orchards  and  cornfields,  a  land  for 
the  pomegranate  and  the  orange.  Still  further  back  rose 
the  green,  low-lying  hills,  great  slopes  whereon  would  grow 
most  healthily  the  vine,  the  olive  and  the  mulberry,  all 
of  which  we  cultivated  zealously,  and  then,  as  the  hills 
rose  into  mountains,  came  the  ruder  spaces  clothed  here 
and  there  with  forests  of  oaks,  chestnut,  sycamore  and 
terebinth,  and,  best  of  all,  the  mighty  cedars,  of  which  I 
have  already  told.  There  were  harbours  at  points  along 
the  coast,  made  naturally  by  the  many  small  islands  which 
formed  a  barrier  against  the  incoming  sea.  We  were 
settled  in  a  land  of  abundance  and  one  also  of  safety 
and  security,  for  from  the  mountains  at  the  south  ran 
out  a  great  promontory  ending  in  a  precipice  at  the  sea 
and  rounded  by  only  a  narrow  path,  while  to  the  north 
were  defences,  raised  by  nature,  not  less  formidable.  To 
the  west  of  us  in  our  front  lay  the  great  sea,  the  Medi- 


240  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

terranean,  as  men  learned  to  call  it,  blue  as  the  sky 
above  it,  teeming  with  the  fish  we  needed,  and  treasure- 
bottomed  because  of  the  rare  things  which,  by  lucky 
happening,  we  found  there.  Far  in  the  offing  above  the 
tideless  waters  could  be  seen  a  dim  blue  speck  where  the 
sky  and  water  blended,  the  island  Yatnan  —  the  Cyprus 
of  the  future  —  an  island  of  kindly  people  to  be  some 
time  followed  by  others  called  the  Greeks,  with  whom  we 
were  already  beginning  to  do  a  little  trading. 

For  we  were  traders!  Traders,  boat-builders  and  sea 
adventurers  were  we,  above  all  other  peoples.  The  world 
had  learned  to  barter,  it  may  be  from  those  who  had  first 
discovered  copper,  which  all  men  needed  and  for  which 
they  would  exchange  that  which  they  had,  and  we  were 
those  who  had  already  made  bartering  our  chief  and 
earnest  occupation.  This  had  been  the  way  with  us  even 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Euphrates,  whence  we  had  come  and 
where  between  contemptuous  Babylonian  and  rude  As 
syrian  we  had  been  much  oppressed,  and  so  had  fled  to 
find  this  treasure  strip.  Warriors  we  had  never  been, 
though  sometimes,  at  bay,  we  had  fought  well,  nor  had 
we  been  skilful  hunters  within  the  memory  of  our  gene 
ration.  Dark-haired  and  swarthy,  sprouted  from  an 
ancient  race  to  the  south,  some  said,  we  had  come  to 
this  new  land  to  make,  if  we  might  be  favoured  of  our 
dark  god,  a  better  future.  Most  skilled  were  we  in  the 
many  arts,  but  better  still,  for  us,  in  traffic  in  that  which 
we  made.  We  dealt  much  with  the  stronger  races  which 
endured  but  did  not  mingle  with  us.  Now  we  were  to 
trade  from  our  own  land  as  a  vantage  ground.  The  out 
come  was  what  no  man  could  dream. 


THE  SAILORS  241 

We  had  built  our  houses  at  Akko  and  had  sowed  our 
fields  and  planted  our  trees  and  vines  and  had  builded 
our  boats,  and  in  them  had  already  begun  to  range  the 
coasts  for  such  trade  as  might  be  found,  though  not  so  far 
at  first,  because  as  yet  we  had  few  goods  for  barter  save 
the  fine  linen  which  the  women  wove  so  well,  and  wool,  and 
cedar  timber,  and  besides,  we  were  not  yet  acquainted 
with  the  strange  shores.  Our  first  trade,  as  I  have  said, 
was  with  the  people  of  the  large  island  Yatnan,  which  was 
so  near  to  us,  and  from  this  alone  arose  in  time  a  mighty 
business  of  ours,  for  in  Yatnan  was  much  copper,  and  the 
people  were  such  we  did  not  fear.  Soon,  too,  there  came 
to  us  such  aid  from  what  the  sea  gave  us,  that  our  traffic, 
we  were  assured,  must  surpass  all  we  had  hoped  for,  our 
fabrics  having  given  to  them  suddenly  a  value  never 
known  before. 

The  bireme  in  which  we  went  to  the  fishing  was  shared 
with  me  in  its  ownership  by  my  comrades  Aradnus  and 
Malchus,  and  it  was  to  Malchus  that  our  people  owed  a 
part  of  their  coming  vast  good  fortune.  Malchus  had 
many  fancies,  and  among  these  was  one  for  a  collection 
of  the  glittering  different  shells  we  found  upon  the  shore 
or  in  the  waters  we  dredged  for  shell-fish,  of  which  there 
were  many  edible  and  nourishing.  Once  in  an  oyster  he 
had  found  a  pearl  of  quality,  and  so  it  came  that  he  was 
ever  curious  to  learn  what  his  shells  might  hold.  Much  we 
derided  him  for  his  useless  searching,  but  he  made  answer 
only  that  there  were  many  things  yet  to  be  learned,  and  the 
issue  proved  him  right.  Among  the  shell-fish  counted 
useless  by  us,  because  we  found  them  tasteless,  were  two 
kinds,  each  of  spiral  form  and  ending  in  a  rounded  head, 


A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

but  one  sort  more  rough  and  spinous  than  the  other.  It 
was  after  breaking  one  of  each  sort  of  these  twisted  shells 
that  Malchus  discovered  a  curious  thing. 

With  a  stone,  Malchus  cracked  the  shells  apart  upon  a 
smooth  rock  where  he  could  observe  them  closely.  That 
of  one  sort  thus  broken  and  the  creature  within  it  shown, 
there  appeared  a  shell-fish  having  a  sort  of  sac  behind  its 
head,  this  sac  extending  into  a  sort  of  vein  traversing  the 
body,  the  whole  filled  with  a  liquid  whitish  in  colour  and 
having  the  smell  of  garlic.  This  liquid  chanced  to  gather 
in  a  tiny  pool  in  the  surface  of  the  rock  and,  even  as  Mal 
chus  studied  it,  wondering  what  its  use  to  the  fish  might 
be,  it  changed  before  his  eyes,  as  the  air  reached  it,  from 
yellow-white  to  green,  then  blue  and  red,  then  a  deep 
purple-red  and,  finally,  to  crimson,  which  last  colour  did 
not  pass  away.  In  the  shell  of  the  rougher  kind  he  found 
a  creature  with  a  sac  which  showed  also  changing  colours, 
though  somewhat  different  of  shade.  Much  Malchus 
wondered  and,  at  last,  he  sought  a  piece  of  linen  and 
dipped  it  in  the  liquid  and  found  he  had  a  cloth  of  brighter 
colour  than  ever  known  before.  He  had  discovered  a 
wondrous  dye !  More  of  the  shell-fish  were  soon  collected 
and  there  was  much  experiment  with  the  dyeing,  for  we 
all  were  full  of  interest  now,  and  it  was  found,  in  the  end, 
that  by  first  dyeing  with  the  matter  in  the  sac  of  the 
smoother  shell-fish,  which  was  abundant  on  the  rocks  near 
shore,  and  later  with  that  from  the  rougher  kind,  which 
was  found  in  deeper  water,  there  was  gained  a  purple  so 
royal  and  brilliant  that  no  other  in  the  world  could  by  any 
means  compare  with  it.  Dark  and  rich  it  was,  like  red 
blood  cooled,  and,  as  it  was  shifted  in  the  light,  a  blazing 


THE  SAILORS  243 

crimson.  The  rocks  and  the  sea-bottom  were  covered 
with  myriads  of  these  strange  shell-fish,  which  we  caught 
with  baited  basket  traps  let  down,  and  soon  our  varied 
cloths  gleamed  with  such  hues  as  would  command  the 
desire  of  all  who  might  look  upon  them.  A  marvellous 
new  thing  had  we  for  barter,  and  in  the  end  it  brought 
great  fortune,  though  not  all  of  it  remained  to  Akko. 
There  came  a  time  when  vast  beds  of  the  shell-fish,  and 
of  even  more  productive  quality,  were  found  near  swiftly 
expanding  Tyre,  and  great  dyeing  was  done  there,  and 
trade  came  widely  in  the  colouring  and  its  fabrics  until 
priests,  senators,  emperors,  and  the  great  of  all  the  known 
world  must  garb  themselves  in  Tyrian  purple  as  most 
worthy  of  their  dignity.  Surely  never  were  a  people's 
fortunes  so  affected  as  were  ours  by  what  might  be  deemed 
so  small  a  thing  as  the  juice  in  the  head  of  a  sea  creature! 
But  this  discovery  of  the  purple  dye  had  but  lately 
come  and  diverted  us  only  a  little  from  a  host  of  things  of 
greater  purport.  Our  boats  and  our  plans  for  our  sea- 
roving  as  we  might  extend  it,  were  what  absorbed  us 
chiefly.  Nowhere  were  better  boats  than  those  we  had 
already  learned  to  build,  but  we  were  ever  seeking  their 
improvement,  since  our  fortunes  were  dependent  upon 
them.  Biremes,  as  our  boats  or  ships  of  the  better  sort  were 
called,  were  better  than  those  owned  by  our  fathers,  not 
short  and  rounded  and  caulked  with  bitumen,  as  had  been 
the  boats  of  only  a  little  time  before  us,  but  longer  and 
caulked  with  tar,  which  we  had  learned  to  make,  and,  in 
our  latest  ventures,  double-decked  so  that  the  oarsmen 
could  work  below  while  their  masters  were  above  them. 
Good  ships  were  these,  riding  the  rough  seas  well,  and 


244  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

much  we  prized  them.  Our  only  lack  was  in  the  oarsmen. 
We  needed  galley-slaves,  and  had  but  few,  and  often 
times  the  trader  and  his  people  must  needs  take  care  to 
the  oars  themselves.  As  for  me  and  my  companions  in 
sea  ventures,  we  had  but  two,  dark  creatures  we  had  found 
castaways  upon  a  bare  island  some  distance  to  the  south, 
and  certainly  of  some  poor  tribe,  for  the  broken  canoe  we 
found  with  them  was  crude  of  form  and  by  no  means  fitted 
for  a  sea  trip.  Blown  away  they  doubtless  were  from  the 
great  continent  which  bounded  the  sea  on  the  south,  a 
land  almost  unknown  to  us,  though  we  were  somewhat 
acquainted  with  the  people,  ancient  almost  as  we,  who 
dwelt  on  the  shores  of  a  great  river  with  many  mouths 
which  came  into  the  sea  not  far  from  its  eastern  end. 
Intelligent  the  captives  proved,  in  a  slow  way,  and  docile 
enough,  though  possessed  of  enormous  appetites,  which 
we  must  gratify  or  else  lose  of  their  strength  in  the  rowing, 
but  which  were  nevertheless  somewhat  of  a  burden  on  us. 
However,  we  hired  them  to  the  husbandmen  when  not 
upon  a  voyage,  and  so  regained  a  little  of  their  keeping 
cost.  We  were  ever  thrifty,  we  Phoenicians ! 

More  slaves  we  must  have  certainly,  and  it  had  been  re 
solved,  not  only  by  us  of  the  Spearhead  —  for  so  we  had 
named  our  sharp-prowed  boat  —  but  by  others  of  the 
traders,  that  cruises  must  be  made  with  that  end  alone  in 
mind,  and  it  was  considered  that  we  might  find  what  we 
sought  in  some  of  the  islands  which  lay  beyond  blue  Yat- 
nan,  some'  of  them  very  small  and  having  on  them,  very 
probably,  so  few  people  that  we  might  make  our  foray 
safely  and  bring  away  as  many  captives  as  our  ships  would 
carry.  For  this  we  were  to  band  together  in  a  fleet  and 


THE  SAILORS  245 

join  our  forces  in  whatever  conflict  came,  afterward  di 
viding  the  captives  by  lot  or  in  any  other  way  we  might 
agree  upon.  It  was  while  preparations  were  making  for 
this  same  expedition  that  happenings  came  which  greatly 
changed  our  plan  and  had  a  mighty  bearing  on  our  future 
ways. 

One  of  those  who  were  to  take  part  in  the  expedition  was 
a  most  daring  and  reckless  captain  having  the  name  of 
Neco,  who  but  a  little  before  this  time  had  made  a  voy 
age  to  the  southward  and  brought  back  with  him  to 
Akko  a  cargo  of  hides,  for  among  us  were  skilled  tanners 
and  cunning  workers  in  leather  who  supplied  many  things 
for  our  trading,  and  hides  were  always  desired  by  them. 
It  so  chanced  that  upon  the  return  voyage  of  Neco  some 
of  the  hides  which  were  green  and  like  to  spoil  were 
stretched  between  poles  set  upright  on  the  deck  of  the 
vessel,  and  that  the  wind  from  the  south,  bearing  hardly 
upon  them,  pressed  the  boat  most  swiftly  homeward,  the 
craft  requiring  only  to  be  steered.  And  this  gave  Neco  a 
great  thought,  and  he  swore  by  Moloch  that  henceforth  the 
wind  should  serve  him  and  that  the  labour  of  the  rowing 
should  be  so  avoided.  So  vaunting  was  he  in  this  that  he 
declared  that  he  would  yet  reach  Yatnan  and  thus  return, 
and  the  marvel  of  it  was  that  he  did  as  he  had  boasted, 
sailing  one  day  when  the  wind  blew  strongly  from  the 
east,  and  returning  when  it  had  shifted  to  the  west.  Now 
his  pride  became  overweening,  and,  having  made  a  great 
sheet  from  broad  strips  of  linen  sewed  together,  he 
spread  it  nailed  between  tall  uprights  and  set  sail  to  the 
southward  with  a  fierce  rising  wind  behind  him.  His 
ship  disappeared  amid  the  mist  and  spindrift  and  never- 


246  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

more  was  seen  of  man.  The  blast  must  have  been  too 
much  for  the  fixed  sail,  and  the  vessel  must  have  buried 
itself  beneath  the  waves  which  rolled  high  upon  the  day 
which  was  the  last  of  Neco. 

It  would  seem  as  if  the  fate  of  this  wild  adventurer 
should  have  brought  pause  to  any  who  had  thought  to 
do  even  as  he,  and  to  call  upon  the  wind  in  aid  in  passage 
of  the  sea  paths,  but  with  me  it  was  not  so.  Eagerly  had 
I  noted  the  feats  of  Neco,  and  it  had  been  borne  in  upon  me 
that  there  was  a  degree  of  wisdom  in  his  madness.  Even 
his  death,  of  which  we  became  assured,  brought  me  no  fear. 
I,  too,  would  seek  to  learn  what  might  be  done  to  make 
the  wind  our  servant,  and  I  set  about  this  swiftly,  being 
to  my  wonder  well  supported  by  both  Malchus  and  Arad- 
nus,  who  sometimes  showed  less  hardihood  than  I,  but 
who  now,  strangely  enough,  became  as  deeply  lost  in 
this  dream  of  a  new  conquest  for  the  toilers  of  the  sea. 
We  devised  a  curious  plan  whereby  we  thought  we  might 
try  the  issue  with  less  risk  of  our  lives  than  had  been  faced 
by  Neco. 

We  knew  that  the  greater  danger  from  the  wind  was 
that  the  boat  might  capsize  in  a  storm,  and  our  first  care 
was  to  avoid  this  risk  as  best  we  might,  though  we  were 
resolved  to  test  these  dreaded  sea-blasts  to  the  utmost. 
Truly  we  were  half  mad,  but  the  zest  of  the  thing  had 
grown  upon  us.  If  the  risk  were  great,  the  stake  was 
great  as  well,  and  we  fell  together  under  some  sort  of  spell 
of  joyous  madness  over  the  prospect  of  we  knew  not  what. 
And  this  was  our  crafty  plan ! 

Often  when  ships  laden  with  timber  had  been  cast  upon 
the  rocks  and  crushed,  those  in  dire  peril  had  escaped  by 


I,  too,  would  seek  to  learn  what  might  be 
done  to  make  the  wind  our  servant " 


THE  SAILORS  247 

lashing  together  as  many  of  the  floating  beams  as  they 
could,  making  a  raft  which  would  not  easily  overturn,  and 
so  drifting  by  good  fortune  to  some  place  of  safe  landing. 
Our  ship,  so  we  devised,  should  be  a  raft;  yet  more  than 
that;  it  should  be  a  sort  of  boat  as  well,  but  one  unsink- 
able,  and  thus  we  built  it,  working  long  with  our  two  slaves, 
and  hewing  and  spiking  the  seasoned  cedar  timbers,  of 
which  there  was  a  great  store  at  hand  for  purchase  and 
of  which  we  owned  a  part.  For  many  days  we  hewed  and 
shaped  and  fashioned  until  we  had  a  great  raft  some  thirty 
forearm  cubits  long,  more  than  seven  times  the  length  of 
a  tall  man,  and  more  than  half  its  length  in  width.  Of 
double  depth  were  the  dried  timbers  and  so  mortised  and 
interset  and  spiked  together  that  the  whole  was  as  one 
great  piece  of  wood  not  to  be  torn  apart  by  the  mightiest 
seas.  Caulked  it  was,  though  needlessly,  for  we  knew 
that  the  water  would  often  come  aboard,  and  all  about  the 
sides  was  raised  a  stout  timbered  wall  of  the  height  of  a 
man  and  having  many  openings  at  its  bottom  that  the 
water  might  escape  and  we  might  walk  dry  shod  when 
seas  were  calm.  So  much  we  allowed  the  strange  craft 
the  nature  of  a  boat  that  it  was  tapered  to  a  prow  at  either 
end  and,  furthermore,  was  hewn  so  that  each  prow  swept 
upward  from  beneath,  that  the  boat  might  rise  on  any 
sloping  shore.  At  each  end  provision  was  made  for  a  long 
steering  oar  such  as  we  used  on  the  biremes.  Upon  either 
side,  amidships,  was  erected  a  stout  mast  between  which 
the  broad  sail  of  strongest  linen  was  stretched  flatly, 
and  in  the  centre  was  a  shorter  mast  to  which  were  bound 
many  things  which  were  to  form  our  cargo.  There  were 
other  short  posts  as  well,  placed  here  and  there  to  serve  a 


248  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

like  purpose.  We  carried  our  arms  and  much  food,  and 
many  lashed  casks  of  water  we  provided,  and  certain 
chests  of  trinkets  and  some  of  more  worthy  things  to 
barter;  for  we  could  not  guess  what  might  be  our  landing- 
place  should  our  plans  fail.  It  was  decided  to  attempt 
the  voyage  to  Yatnan  and  thence  homeward  as  our  first 
venture.  So,  one  afternoon  when  the  sun  shone  most 
fairly  and  the  wind  was  from  the  east,  we  cast  off  the  long 
mooring-rope  and  were  blown  gently  away  to  sea,  while 
half  of  Akko  stood  looking  upon  us  curiously  or  jeering 
at  our  uncouth  vessel. 

We  were  steering  for  Yatnan,  as  we  thought,  but  many 
are  the  things  in  the  laps  of  the  gods. 

Like  how  many  things  is  the  sea!  It  is  like  a  woman, 
soft  and  smiling  and  caressing,  at  least  upon  the  surface ; 
it  is  like  a  stallion  pawing  and  tossing  his  white  mane;  it 
is  like  a  green  forest  bending  and  heaving  before  the  wind; 
it  is  like  an  unbounded  sheet  of  shimmering,  supple  glass, 
supine  beneath  a  calm;  and,  at  last,  it  is  like  a  herd  of 
wild  beasts,  roaring  and  hungry  and  devouring.  Let  none 
count  our  Mediterranean  as  harmless  as  compared  with 
the  mighty  western  ocean.  The  leopard  is  more  treach 
erous  than  the  lion !  Much  we  knew  already  of  the  chang 
ing  sea,  but  much  more  were  we  to  learn ! 

The  eastern  wind,  still  strong  and  even,  bore  us  stead 
ily,  though  far  from  swiftly,  away  from  our  own  coast 
until  the  shore  line  became  dim,  and,  since  it  was  so 
squarely  astern  of  us,  we  found  no  difficulty  in  steering 
straight  for  Yatnan.  Even  with  our  laggard  movement 
we  should  reach  the  island  by  daybreak,  and  this  sailing 
seemed,  in  sooth,  an  easy  matter.  My  companions  laughed 


THE  SAILORS  249 

and  jested,  and  the  two  slaves,  relieved  of  all  row 
ing,  were  agrin  and  happy.  Then  the  breeze  abated 
somewhat  and  the  wind  began  veering  here  and  there,  and 
the  raft-ship  lost  something  of  its  headway,  while  the  oar 
with  which  I  myself  was  steering  became  more  and  more 
an  ineffective  thing.  Most  irresponsive  to  guidance  was 
yet  our  new  ship  upon  which  we  had  so  laboured  in  the 
building.  There  arose  a  little  black  cloud  in  the  far 
northwest,  and,  somehow,  I  liked  it  not.  I  wished  for 
the  bireme ! 

At  last  the  breeze  died  away  altogether  and  we  lay  there 
rocked  as  gently  as  a  first-born  by  its  mother.  The  little 
cloud  in  the  northwest  was  becoming  somewhat  too  lusty 
for  my  taste,  but  as  yet  there  was  no  sign  of  really  dan 
gerous  weather.  So  we  swung  and  swayed  until  the  sun 
was  low  down  in  the  west,  and  then  the  lightness  changed 
to  something  more  sombre  very  quickly,  for  the  cloud  had 
extended  itself  ambitiously,  and  the  sun's  last  slanting 
rays  we  failed  to  get.  The  breeze,  too,  had  returned, 
coming  this  time  from  the  north  and  having  a  greater  and 
increasing  vigour  to  it.  The  raft  began  to  act  with  even 
less  obedience  to  the  steering  oar,  strain  I  ever  so  hardly, 
for  the  sail  now  took  the  wind  endwise  alone,  and  this 
could  not  avail.  Not  long  did  this  continue.  The  waves 
had  begun  to  rise,  though  by  no  means  roughly,  and  the 
end  of  the  vessel  where  I  laboured  was  caught  and  twirled 
by  one  of  them  so  smartly  that  it  lay  in  a  new  way,  and 
in  a  moment  the  wind  had  caught  a  hold  upon  the  sail 
again  and  we  were  turned  fairly  about  and  headed  for 
the  south,  stern  foremost,  if,  indeed,  we  might  be  said  to 
have  a  stern,  since  the  ends  of  the  craft  were  alike  in 


250  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

every  way.  We  had  but  one  resource.  The  steering  oar 
was  shifted  from  what  had  been  the  stern  to  the  end  now 
made  so,  and  we  were  sailing  again,  with  oaths  or  prayers 
in  our  mouths  according  to  the  impulse  of  each.  My  own 
mood  was  not  greatly  either  for  oath  or  prayer  now.  As 
the  uncouth  sail  filled  or  tautened  and  the  boat  leaped 
forward  as  clumsily  as  it  did  strenuously,  the  wild,  fierce 
sense  of  abandon  and  utter  daring  came  back  upon  me  in 
a  wave  and  I  whooped  aloud  in  zest  of  it,  my  comrades 
catching  the  wild  unction  and  yelling  as  loudly  in  the  same 
headstrong  spirit.  Often  since  have  I  thought  of  that  au 
dacious  moment  and  wondered  if  such  lifted  moods  might 
not  be  sometimes  but  the  flaming  out  of  a  new  man  and  a 
greater  one,  to  make  the  most  of  dangerous  opportunity? 
Have  not  the  best  deeds  been  often  but  the  issue  of  an 
outbreak,  foolhardy  and  desperate  it  may  have  seemed, 
of  some  strong  man  inspired  by  that  for  which  he  could 
give  no  reason?  And,  launched  into  some  course  of  haz 
ard,  has  not  man  often  been  so  sustained  throughout  it 
that  he  has  won  his  way,  laughing  or  cursing  at  every 
jeopardy,  until  he  has  accomplished  that  which  was  good 
for  him  and  for  his  kind  as  well?  Truly  the  gods  have 
curious  ways ! 

So  drove  we  southward  half  through  the  night,  when 
again  the  wind  changed,  this  time  carrying  us  to  the 
westward,  though  so  gradually  that  Malchus,  who  had 
replaced  me  at  the  oar  while  I  lay  sleeping,  held  it  so  skil 
fully  and  firmly  that  the  stern  was  still  the  stern,  with 
which  feat  he  was  much  delighted.  With  the  morning 
the  sun  was  shining  again,  though  the  wind  had  not 
abated. 


THE  SAILORS  251 

All  day  we  ran  westward  upon  that  sea  of  low-rolling 
waves,  a  sea  so  smooth  that  no  water  came  over  our 
boarded  sides,  and  farther  and  farther  we  were  carried 
from  land  or  means  of  succour  in  any  greater  peril,  but  I 
lost  none  of  my  heedless  ardour  nor  did  either  of  my  com 
panions  fail  me.  Especially  was  I  delighted  with  the 
usually  silent  and  thoughtful  Aradnus,  who,  strangely 
enough,  seemed  to  enter  most  fully  and  delightedly  into 
the  spirit  of  the  trying  of  the  sail. 

"It  is  well,"  he  shouted  to  me,  as  the  thing  bellied  as 
far  as  it  might  before  the  wind,  and  the  foam  arose  a  little 
beneath  our  low  prow.  "We  are  getting  much  wisdom, 
and  more  is  coming  to  us!  Mark  what  it  does!" 

And  well  indeed  marked  I  that  sail.  I  did  naught  but 
study  it  and  note  its  tremendous  promise,  and  its  failings 
and  its  menace.  As  I  studied,  there  came  to  me  slowly 
a  new  perception.  Why  were  we  so  helplessly  at  the 
mercy  of  this  spread  of  linen  when  the  wind  blew?  Why 
had  we  stretched  it  thus  immovably  across  our  raft-ship? 
As  I  looked  upon  it  there  came  such  comprehension  as 
made  me  laugh  at  myself  in  sheer  derision.  Man,  not 
the  sail,  should  be  the  master,  and  there  must  be  a  way 
to  make  it  so ! 

This  I  had  noticed,  that  when  the  wind  changed  but  a 
little,  and  so  smote  the  sail  somewhat  aslant,  the  raft> 
still  held  by  the  steering  oar,  kept  straightly  on  its  course, 
but  when  the  shift  was  greater,  so  that  the  pressure  came 
more  nearly  abeam,  there  ensued  a  sudden  stoppage  and 
we  washed  about  unsteerable  until  there  came  another 
change.  This,  then,  I  had  learned,  that  it  was  not  neces 
sary  that  the  wind  should  bear  squarely  on  the  sail,  but 


A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

that  a  slanting  pressure  would  do  almost  as  well  and  still 
allow  us  to  direct  our  course.  Then,  why  not  have  the 
sail  so  that  we  could  get  such  pressure  at  all  times  if  we 
willed  and  so  have  ever  steerage-way?  Much  I  pondered 
upon  this  and  at  last  I  perceived  what  I  thought  might  be 
the  remedy. 

I  have  not  yet  told,  save  generally,  of  what  we  had  on 
board  lashed  to  the  many  posts,  for  there  had  been 
abundant  room  and  I  had  made  provision  for  many  things. 
There  was  one  long  chest  in  which  I  had  placed,  besides 
our  weapons,  a  goodly  number  of  tools  such  as  we  sailors 
used,  with  the  thought  that,  should  we  be  cast  ashore, 
we  could  build  shelters  for  ourselves,  and  glad  I  was  now 
that  I  had  been  so  provident.  More  time  we  would  not 
waste  before  I  had  carried  out  my  new  design,  and  so  I 
explained  its  nature  to  the  others,  who  comprehended 
what  I  had  in  mind  and  who  at  once  began  the  labour 
with  me. 

The  two  masts  to  which  the  sail  was  nailed  were  set 
deeply  in  holes  mortised  squarely  through  the  timber  on 
either  side,  but,  though  tightly,  not  so  that  they  might 
not  be  lifted  out  by  the  heaving  of  good  men.  Now  we 
took  chisels  and  hammers  from  the  long  chest  and  began 
the  making  of  similar  square  holes  in  a  great  circle  amid 
ships,  the  diameter  of  which  was  the  width  of  the  broad 
sail.  It  was  a  task  which  took  us  long,  but  the  sea  was 
calm,  the  chisels  sharp  and  the  hammers  heavy,  and  it  was 
done  at  last.  Just  as  we  had  the  task  completed  it 
chanced  that  the  wind  shifted  so  that  it  came  squarely 
over  one  of  our  sides  and  left  us  wallowing  again.  It  was 
not  for  long.  We  strainingly  lifted  the  two  masts  from 


THE  SAILORS  253 

their  sockets  and  so  replaced  them  in  the  new  receptacles 
that  the  wind,  though  coming  over  our  side,  struck  them 
obliquely  and  thus  again  propelled  us  while  the  helm  oar 
kept  us  straightly  upon  our  course.  It  was  a  revelation. 
The  sail  was  being,  for  the  first  time,  tamed!  But  there 
was  more  to  come,  and  that  at  once. 

I  sat  upon  one  of  the  chests  after  our  first  moment  of 
jubilation  and  watched  with  pride  the  issue  of  the  con 
quest  we  had  made,  when  there  came  to  me  a  new  idea 
beside  which  the  first,  so  carried  out,  seemed  only  a  be 
ginning  !  We  were  ploughing  merrily  westward  now,  but 
westward  it  was  not  my  wish  to  go.  If,  now,  the  wind, 
coming  from  one  side  of  us  and  pushing  upon  our  sail 
obliquely  could  so  carry  us,  as  it  were,  athwart  its  course, 
why  could  it  not,  in  the  same  way,  take  us  to  the  east 
ward,  were  the  sail  turned  so  that  the  pressure  of  the 
wind  would  press  in  the  opposite  direction?  I  leaped  to  my 
feet  shoutingly  and  told  of  what  I  had  conceived,  and  forth 
with  we  acted.  The  masts,  or,  rather,  one  of  them,  was 
raised  and  so  shifted  that  when  it  was  planted  the  sail  took 
the  wind  upon  the  other  side,  and  at  once  we  lost  headway 
quiveringly,  and  soon  were  sailing  eastward!  Truly  it 
was  a  great  day  in  the  history  of  sailing,  and  one  of  vast 
moment  to  all  traders  and  sea-rovers! 

Of  where  we  were,  save  that  we  were  far  from  land,  I 
had  slight  knowledge.  Full  half  the  way  across  the  sea 
we  must  have  come,  for  the  north  wind  had  been  a  strong 
one  while  it  prevailed  and  had  hurried  us  for  many  a 
league  despite  the  heaviness  of  our  sailing.  The  westward 
course,  as  well,  had  been  with  a  southward  trend  and  it 
seemed  to  me  that  it  were  much  easier  to  find  a  port  on 


254  A  SON  OP  THE  AGES 

the  African  shore  than  otherwise.  But  what  manner  of 
port  might  await  us  in  that  strange  region?  Most  bar 
barous  tribes,  so  the  Egyptians  had  told,  inhabited  the 
long  reaches  of  sandy  or  rocky  coast,  and  luckless  were 
those  who  landed  there.  I  had  no  plan,  we  were  unde 
termined  of  mind  as  the  gulls  which  swept  about  us,  but 
land  of  some  sort  all  men  who  eat  and  drink  must  some 
time  find  or  perish,  and  we  were  not  equipped  for  very  long. 
I  counselled  with  Malchus  and  Aradnus  and,  in  the  end, 
we  acted  not  unwisely,  as  the  event  proved,  though  there 
was  much  to  come  between.  Somewhat  we  knew  of  the 
Egyptians,  for  between  their  land  and  that  by  the  Eu 
phrates  there  had  been  a  little  trade,  vast  as  was  the  dis 
tance  to  be  traversed,  including  the  passage  of  the  strait 
between  the  seas,  and  we  knew  them  as  advanced  in 
ways  of  learning  and  as  generally  peaceful.  They  were 
unlikely  to  set  upon  such  weak  adventurers  as  we  and 
of  a  race  which  they  knew.  So  it  was  decided  that  we 
should  bear  to  the  southeastward  straightly  as  we  might 
and  seek  one  of  the  mouths  of  the  great  river  which  we 
call  the  Nile. 

The  wind  held  as  it  was,  and  slowly,  though  steadily,  we 
moved  toward  the  east  all  through  the  afternoon  of  this 
day  when  I  had  devised  the  shifting  of  the  sail,  and  toward 
nightfall  at  a  swifter  rate,  for  the  sky  was  now  becom 
ing  overcast  and  the  wind  was  rising.  Soon  there  were 
mounting  waves,  and  the  raft-ship,  as  I  have  called  it  for 
want  of  a  better  name,  began  to  rise  and  fall  in  its  now 
more  hurried  progress  and  to  occasionally  dip  its  prow 
into  the  sea  and  take  aboard  much  water,  which  did  not 
harm  us,  since  it  at  once  washed  out  again.  We  would 


THE  SAILORS  255 

have  been  content  with  this  mood  of  the  wind  and  sea 
had  it  but  remained  the  same,  but  that  was  not  to  be. 
The  storm-god  was  abroad  that  night,  and  drunken ! 

There  be  certain  men  among  us  Phoenicians  who  have 
great  gift  of  words  such  as  I  have  not,  and  who  can  write 
most  eloquently  —  for  we  have  letters  and  learning  which 
other  peoples  lack  —  some  one  of  whom  might,  it  may  be, 
have  described  fittingly  the  storm  of  that  dread  night  had 
he  but  been  aboard  our  raft  and  had  not  died  of  fright, 
but  much  I  doubt  it.  There  is  not  stylus  to  trace  the  tale 
of  such  storm  as  that  in  letters !  Whereas  at  the  beginning 
I  longed  for  our  staunch  bireme  beneath  our  feet,  yet 
long  before  the  morning  I  thanked  the  gods  that  we  were 
lashed  firmly  to  the  posts  upon  our  strange  new  vessel. 
What  a  sea-mew  proved  our  riding  craft  that  night ! 

The  wind  became  a  gale,  and  the  gale  a  most  tremendous 
one.  Each  man  of  us  was  firmly  lashed  to  a  stout  post, 
else  we  would  have  been  inevitably  lost.  Down  one  great 
wave  we  rode  or  up  or  through  another,  and  that  we 
did  not  drown  was  only  that  between  the  billows  we  had  a 
chance  to  gasp  for  breath.  For  hours  we  were  thus 
hurled  forward,  and  when,  toward  morning,  the  storm 
somewhat  abated,  the  change  came  none  too  soon,  for  we 
were  spent  to  the  verge  of  certain  death.  Now  the  raft 
riding  naturally  so  lightly  and  so  easily,  no  longer  buried 
its  low  prow  in  the  oncoming  surge,  and  we  could  at  least 
breathe  steadily  again.  The  worst  was  over,  yet  by  no 
means  all  the  trial,  though  we  had  no  fear.  Our  wondrous 
raft  had  shown  its  worth  in  that  it  could  not  sink  nor 
capsize.  What  more  could  reckless  adventurers  ask? 
Still  we  climbed  the  towering  waves  and  still  rode  down 


256  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

them,  rushing  to  the  southeast,  but  we  feared  now  less 
the  water  than  the  land.  It  was  not  a  proper  sea  in  which 
to  find  a  threatening  coast.  Very  narrow  was  the  slant 
of  canvas  we  now  allowed  to  catch  the  wind,  though  to 
shift  the  sail  with  such  foothold  as  that  uptilting  or  de- 
cending  deck  afforded  was  a  feat  of  catlike  merit. 

Exhausted,  we  slept  by  turns,  as  best  we  might,  still 
lashed  for  safety's  sake;  and  w^hen,  at  noon,  I  was  aroused 
by  Malchus  I  looked  with  pleasure  out  upon  a  sea  which 
was  not  threatening.  More,  too,  I  saw.  To  the  south 
east  appeared  afar  a  blue  haze  which,  as  we  sailed,  re 
vealed  itself  as  a  low-lying  coast,  and,  furthermore,  a 
coast  revealing  the  mouth  of  a  broad  river,  one  which 
could  be  nothing  else  than  one  of  the  outlets  of  the  mighty 
Nile!  I  could  not  be  mistaken,  and  for  that  mouth  we 
steered.  Our  fortune  had  brought  us  as  fairly  to  our  aim 
as  if  our  course  had  been  directed  by  the  nicest  seaman 
ship! 

The  river  entered  the  sea  through  the  lowlands  made  by 
the  silt  of  countless  ages,  and,  for  a  league  at  least,  we 
sailed  up  the  deep  stream  between  flat  marshland.  Grad 
ually  the  banks  became  higher  and  palms  showed  in  the 
distance,  and  at  last  we  moved  slowly  up  toward  a  place 
where  were  trees  on  the  river's  western  side,  and  there  we 
contrived  to  land,  one  of  the  slaves  swimming  ashore  with 
a  rope  by  which  we  hauled  in  our  raft,  mooring  it  stoutly 
by  other  ropes  tied  to  our  posts.  Far  up  the  river  we 
could  perceive  buildings  of  stone,  and  I  knew  it  for  a  port 
of  some  importance  of  which  I  had  been  often  told.  The 
slaves  we  left  to  guard  our  vessel,  knowing  they  would  not 
venture  to  desert  us  in  this  strange  land,  and  then  we 


THE  SAILORS  257 

three  —  Aradnus,  Malchus,  and  I  —  after  having  washed 
ourselves  and  donned  fresh  array  from  our  scantily  filled 
chest,  fared  forth  to  learn  what  Egypt  should  prove  to 
us.  We  had  no  fears,  because  these  were  a  people  civil 
ized,  even  as  we,  though  not  such  daring  wanderers. 
Already,  through  many  centuries,  had  the  sun  shone  on 
the  great  cities  of  the  Nile,  and  the  climax  of  the  power  of 
Egypt's  rulers  was  nearly  at  its  zenith  now.  We  reached 
the  city,  not  a  great  one  like  Thebes,  Memphis,  or  other 
cities  of  the  upper  river,  but  a  prosperous  out-lying  port 
with  promise  of  future  trading  for  us. 

There  were  many  people  in  the  streets,  but  we  had  not 
thought  of  recognition.  Ever  comes  the  unexpected. 
Conceive  then  how  surprised  I  was  to  hear  a  call  to  us  in 
the  Phoenician  language,  as  there  advanced  to  me  a 
swarthy  man  of  middle  age,  a  man  of  good  appearance, 
who  spoke  smilingly : 

"Welcome,  Phoenician!     Whence  came  you  here?" 

I  could  not  understand,  yet  all  was  simple.  The  mer 
chant,  for  such  he  was,  explained  to  me  that  he  had  for 
years  gone  with  the  caravan  to  Babylonia,  and  had  so  in 
time  acquired  the  Phoenician  language.  He  declared 
also  that  he  could  at  once  distinguish  a  Phoenician  by  his 
appearance,  which  was,  however,  no  marvellous  thing, 
since  the  Phoenician  face  was  racially  distinct,  and  since 
we  had  traits  of  garb,  trifling,  it  is  true,  but  sufficient  to 
make  us  somewhat  apart  in  dress  as  in  complexion  and 
demeanour.  There  was  much  talk  between  us  and,  when 
we  had  done,  it  seemed  to  me  as  if  that  which  could  not 
be  had  taken  place. 

Here  were  I  and  my  companions,  who  but  a  few  hours 


258  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

ago  were  tossing  about  in  a  wild  venture  upon  an  unknown 
sort  of  craft,  facing  death  in  raging  waves  and  doubtful 
of  our  future  and  our  fortunes,  now  in  peaceful  harbourage, 
and,  more  than  that,  in  a  fair  way  to  attain  such  ends  as 
would  enrich  us  and  our  people  in  the  future.  The  mer 
chant  had  promised  much,  and  it  was  borne  in  upon  me 
that  he  spoke  honestly.  At  this  port  of  Egypt,  he  said, 
there  were  not  he  alone,  but  various  other  merchants  who 
would  gladly  trade  with  us  Phoenicians;  that  they  had 
learned  of  our  occupation  of  the  new  land  and  of  our 
prosperity  and  that  they  well  knew  of  our  ways  of  trading 
along  strange  coasts,  so  bringing  to  its  market  many 
wares  which  could  not  otherwise  be  gained.  Readily 
would  they  deal  with  us  and  buy  of  us  such  things  as 
would  add  to  the  merchandise  transported  by  their  car 
avans  either  up  the  great  Nile  to  Memphis  and  to  ancient 
Luxor  and  other  places,  or  else  would  be  taken  with  the 
rarer  caravans  to  the  rich  marts  of  the  cities  of  the  Eu 
phrates.  What  a  prospect  was  this  for  us  in  Phoenicia,  who 
were  now  seeking  such  broader  ways  of  traffic!  Gladly 
I  assured  the  merchant  of  our  constant  future  sailing  with 
goods  for  Egypt,  and  so  it  soon  came  that  I  and  my  com 
panions,  through  this  helpful  first  acquaintance,  met  other 
merchants  and  made  divers  business  pledges  to  them  for 
the  time  to  come.  And  one  business  of  much  profit  and 
great  promise  came  on  the  moment. 

I  have  said  that  our  sore  need  in  Phoenicia  was  of  more 
galley  slaves,  that  we  might  be  equipped  for  the  trade  we 
should  soon  command.  Of  this  I  spoke  to  the  merchant, 
Thomes,  he  whom  I  had  first  met,  and  from  him  learned 
that  he  and  his  friends  could  furnish  me  sturdy  slaves  at 


THE  SAILORS  259 

such  price  as  made  foolish  long  voyages  to  gain  them,  such 
as  we  in  Phoenicia  had  in  contemplation.  Gold  we  had 
with  us,  for  I  had  counselled  with  my  companions  that  we 
bring  with  us  such  of  our  wealth  as  we  could  carry,  and 
we  had  it  bestowed  in  belts  about  our  bodies.  Upon  this 
store  we  now  drew  and  therewith  purchased  twenty  lusty 
slaves  at  a  price  which  seemed  to  us  but  half,  and  forth 
with  bestowed  them  upon  our  boat  and  there  provided 
them  with  subsistence  while  we  awaited  the  time  of  our 
departure  some  days  hence,  for  I  had  certain  thoughts  in 
mind  which  were  of  import.  I  had  more  to  do  with  the 
sail! 

Ever,  when  not  engaged  in  the  trading  or  informing  our 
selves  in  such  things  as  might  serve  us  in  the  future  of  the 
ways  of  these  Egyptians,  were  we  considering  how  the 
sail  might  be  made  a  greater  thing,  and  how  a  portion  of 
the  huge  labour  of  its  shifting  might  be  avoided,  or  made 
more  easy;  and  from  these  debates  and  from  many  earnest 
hours  of  puzzling  and  deep  thinking,  came  at  last  some 
birth  from  my  poor  head.  Our  trading  —  for  we  bought 
certain  Egyptian  goods  for  sale  in  Akko  —  and  our  com 
muning  with  the  merchants  ended,  we  left  the  port  and 
set  up  tents  on  the  shore  beside  our  vessel  and  there  began 
the  labour  which  must  follow  my  new  thought  concerning 
the  handling  of  the  sail  and  making  it  more  subservient 
to  swift  occasion. 

The  labour  had  been  great  of  moving  the  masts  about 
upon  our  deck,  and  this  labour  it  now  came  to  me  was 
needless,  for  by  means  of  a  single  mast  the  sail  could  much 
more  easily  be  shifted.  And  this,  with  much  shrewd 
counsel  from  Aradnus,  was  what  I  now  devised. 


260  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

First,  we  raised  amidship,  though  a  little  toward  the 
bow,  a  single  sturdy  mast,  and  next  we  stretched  the  sail 
upon  a  strong  frame,  which  frame  was  hung  upon  the 
mast,  securely  held  by  encircling  thongs  supported  on 
outstanding  pegs  and  so  sustained  that  it  might  be  swung 
in  all  directions,  hanging  thus  firmly  and  flatly.  To  the 
middle  of  this  frame  at  either  side  were  attached  long  ropes 
to  be  pulled  from  the  deck  by  the  slaves,  thus  giving  us 
the  power  to  slant  or  hold  the  sail  in  any  way  the  wind 
might  call  for.  It  was  but  a  rude  device  —  much  better 
way  did  we  later  find  for  the  sail-shifting  —  but  it  served 
us  very  well.  I  was  resolved  to  return  to  Akko  in  our 
strange  ship,  though  the  merchants  made  ready  proffer  of 
one  of  their  great  rowing  vessels  to  carry  us  by  oars  alone 
along  the  great  stretch  of  coast.  This  would  not  serve 
us.  Our  slaves  must  be  trained  to  the  rowing,  and  so  I 
had  provided  oars  and  the  fastening  oar  thongs  and  seats 
along  each  side  of  our  vessel.  We  might  thus  make  our 
tedious  way  by  oars  alone,  but  we  would  not.  The  sail 
must  have  its  further  testing,  and  its  control  must  be 
learned  by  all  of  us.  Henceforth  we  must  be  sailors ! 

What  need  to  tell  the  story  of  that  grand  voyage !  The 
sail  served  well,  though  truly  not  as  it  came  to  serve  us  a 
little  later,  and  the  new  slaves  had  learned  their  oarsman 
ship  before  we  came  into  the  bay  of  Akko.  What  need, 
either,  to  tell  of  the  manner  of  our  reception  by  our  citi 
zens?  There  was  no  longer  scoffing,  and  when  our  tale 
was  known  to  all  there  came  excitement  among  all  the 
captains  concerning  the  trade  with  Egypt  and  there  were 
made  preparations  for  many  sailings.  As  for  us,  we  moved 
both  mast  and  slaves  to  our  bireme  and  prepared  for  much 


THE  SAILORS  261 

adventure.  Soon,  too,  the  other  biremes,  as  well  as  ves 
sels  of  lighter  sort,  were  bearing  sails,  and,  though  crews 
were  lost  at  first  through  too  great  recklessness  in  time 
of  storm  or  through  great  ignorance,  yet  the  age  of  long 
voyages  by  rowing  had  passed  forever.  Both  I  and  my 
companions  throve  and,  after  some  profitable  trade  with 
Egypt  in  glorious  purple  fabrics  and  in  other  things,  and 
when  we  had  builded  another  and  greater  vessel,  a  trireme, 
requiring  many  galley  slaves,  there  came  to  each  of  us 
who  had  once  faced  the  danger  of  the  sea  together  a  desire 
for  new  adventure  and,  it  might  be,  graver  peril.  The 
lust  of  far  roving  had  come  upon  us,  and  we  would  not  be 
denied !  We  loaded  the  trireme  with  many  goods  and  an 
abundance  of  arms  and  thus  set  sail  to  the  west  and  north, 
for  we  would  explore  the  shores  of  the  vast  continent  there 
lying  and  harbouring,  as  we  knew,  a  host  of  many  differ 
ent  peoples,  how  barbarous  we  could  not  tell.  We  knew, 
though,  that  they  had  no  boats  with  sails,  and  that  we 
could  flee  that  which  we  could  not  face.  No  man  aboard 
but  was  gleaming  of  face  when  the  Seeker,  with  white  sail 
outspread  and  not  a  single  oar  outthrust,  save  those  for 
steering,  swept  bravely  from  the  harbour. 

Never  was  voyage  more  curiously  doubtful  from  day  to 
day  than  this,  and  never  one  to  prove  more  the  index  of 
vast  happenings  in  the  future,  though  that  we  could  not 
know.  We  sailed  at  first  discreetly,  for  we  had  some 
knowledge  from  the  people  of  Yatnan  concerning  those 
of  the  islands  beyond  them,  and  with  these  we  did  not 
wish  to  have  acquaintance  at  this  time,  for  they  had  no 
cities  nor  any  goods  of  value.  It  was  the  continent  upon 
which  we,  placed  our  hopes,  for  there  were  legends  of 


A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

ancient  kingdoms  there,  and  of  peoples  living  upon  the 
shores  of  the  far  western  sea  who  were  as  old  and  as  wise 
as  any  in  the  world,  and  owned  fair  cities  and  much 
riches.  I  may,  even  now,  tell  that  we  found  none  of 
these,  yet  there  still  exists  the  tale  of  an  ancient  country 
beyond  the  westward  strait  between  the  sea  and  the  ocean, 
and  which  tells  of  how  the  ancient  land,  Atlantis,  was 
swallowed  by  the  waves.  Of  all  this  I  know  nothing,  and 
doubt  if  it  is  known  of  any  man. 

So  we  skirted  the  many  islands  west  of  Yatnan  and  the 
mainland  reaching  down  among  them,  and  laid  our  course 
more  straightly  northward,  soon  to  find  ourselves  in  a 
long  and  narrow  sea  branching  far  upward  from  our  own 
beside  a  long  peninsula  shaped  like  a  boot.     A  great  dis 
tance  up  this  sea's  eastern  shore  we  sailed,  passing  mostly 
rocky  coasts,  and  rounding  its  far  extremity  and  return 
ing  upon  the  western  shore,  where  we  found  life  indeed, 
but  life  of  an  almost  savage  sort.     There  came  to  the 
beach  to  meet  us  when  we  made  a  landing  a  band  of 
scores  of  people,  men  and  women,  clad  in  skins  and  most 
abundantly  tattooed  in  strange  designs.     Yet  wrere  not 
these  people  altogether  savage  and  they  were  peacefully 
inclined.     They  had  little  for  which  we  cared  to  barter 
even  trinkets,  and  so  we  left  them.     Then  came  another 
sort  of  sailing  and  it  was  well  for  us  that  we  were  most 
skilful  seamen  now,  for  surely  the  voyage  had  its  perils. 
Westward,  rounding  the  tip  of  the  great  boot  of  the 
peninsula,  we  turned,  and  entered  a  passage  between  it 
and  a  big  island  upon  which  a  huge  volcano  was  vomiting 
its  fire  and  smoke.     Here  all  our  skill  and  courage  found 
their  test,  for  more  desperate  and  dangerous  passage  could 


THE  SAILORS  263 

not  be  than  that  between  the  island  and  the  mainland: 
fierce,  treacherous  currents  threatening  to  cast  us  upon 
terrifying  rocks  on  one  side  or  the  other.  Very  content 
were  we  when  we  came  into  the  open  sea  again  and  laid 
our  course  upward  along  the  western  shore  of  this  great  boot. 
It  proved  a  pleasant  land  enough,  though  we  passed 
another  huge  volcano  in  eruption  and  rearing  its  sombre 
plume  high  in  the  heavens;  and  on  making  landing  we 
found  a  people  made  up  chiefly  of  villages  of  harmless 
fishermen  whom  we  liked  well,  but  who  had  as  little  to 
barter  as  those  upon  the  other  shore.  So  we  voyaged 
still  farther  northward,  and  entered  a  river,  up  which  we 
sailed  but  a  league  or  two,  seeking  the  reason  for  a  smoke 
which  arose  there  and  which,  we  thought,  might  betoken 
some  home  of  man.  We  were  not  mistaken.  There  were 
men  and  women  there,  lusty  and  vigorous,  of  two  tribes 
in  alliance  and  occupying  a  straggling  double  village 
scattered  over  seven  close-grouped  hills,  through  which 
the  river  ran.  Here  we  lingered  for  several  days,  learn 
ing  much  of  the  people  of  this  village  —  Roma,  as  they 
called  it,  —  and  of  the  ways  of  those  who  lived  in  it. 
They  were  a  rugged  people,  most  full  of  enterprise,  and 
chiefly  engaged,  it  seemed,  in  raiding  the  tribes  about 
them.  With  us  they  became  upon  good  terms  and  we 
made  trade  for  such  tremendous  store  of  wolfskins  as 
must  make  our  voyage  profitable.  Little  we  could  divine 
that  in  centuries  to  come  Phoenicians  should  find  here  one 
of  their  greatest  markets,  and  that  Sidonian  broidery 
should  bedeck  the  robes  of  Roma's  fair  women  and  Tyrian 
purple  band  the  togas  of  senators  and  nobles  and  of  em 
perors.  We  sailed  away  well  satisfied.  Not  much  farther 


264  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

did  we  make  this  voyage  reach,  though  sailing  a  day  or 
two  westward  toward  the  strait  leading  to  the  unknown 
ocean,  and  finding  naught  to  induce  a  landing.  Then 
straight  toward  Akko  we  laid  our  course,  conveying  with 
us  to  our  people  new  knowledge  and  many  worthy  wolf 
skins  ! 

No  more  need  I  tell  of  our  increasing  trade  of  far-flung 
sails.  Phoenicia  was  growing  in  prosperity  as  never  land 
had  grown  before.  Yatnan  had  become  Phoenician  and 
we  worked  its  copper  mines,  and  had  a  temple  in  its 
city,  Paphos;  the  fame  of  Tyre  and  Sidon  was  extending 
throughout  the  lands  of  Egypt  and  the  Euphrates,  and 
our  ships  and  caravans  carried  such  wares  as  might  tempt 
all  peoples.  As  for  we  three,  Aradnus,  Malchus,  and  I,  we 
were  now  among  Phoenicia's  richest  men.  Of  the  rest,  it 
appertains  chiefly  to  me  alone,  and  is  not  as  I  would 
have  it ! 

Of  Elissa,  fairest  of  Paphian  women,  I  have  no  com 
plaint  to  make.  The  gods  will  judge  her,  but  not  the  gods 
whose  nostrils  fed  upon  the  sacrifice.  There  was  none  like 
unto  her  in  all  the  Yatnan  city,  and  we  inclined  to  each 
other,  and,  after  much  earnest  wooing,  she  became  my 
wife.  Proud  I  was  and  prouder  still  when  she  bore  me 
a  son,  lusty  and  comely,  who  soon  had  twined  his  little 
fingers  round  my  heartstrings  and  whom,  after  the  way  of 
doting  fathers,  I  deemed  the  fairest  child  in  all  the  world. 
They  were  golden  days  which  followed,  until  I  sailed  away 
again  upon  a  voyage  —  and  then  came  Baal! 

Of  the  religion  of  the  Phoenicians  I  have  not  yet  spoken, 
and  only  in  rage  or  shame  may  one  tell  of  its  quality.  Of 
its  origin  I  know  nothing  save  that  the  great  Baal,  or  Mo- 


THE  SAILORS  265 

loch,  as  one  with  him,  was  as  the  creating  and  yet  burning 
and  destroying  sun,  and  that  he  must  have  his  worship 
and  his  sacrifices.  Lightly  was  this  religion  held  by  such 
as  I  and  the  other  sea-rovers,  in  whose  faces  blew  the  pure 
winds  of  the  sea  and  who  had  seen  and  who  knew  of 
things  beyond  wild  superstitions,  but  with  the  people  of  the 
cities  and  the  fierce,  unknowing  rabble  this  was  not  so, 
and  they  were  under  the  dominion  of  priests  as  bloody- 
minded  and  full  of  frenzy  as  the  savage  cannibal  creatures 
who  dwelt  in  distant  places.  At  this  time,  too,  the  wor 
ship  had  grown  up  into  an  idolatry  of  the  most  wanton 
and  abandoned  character,  and  celebrations  were  made  com 
mon,  ending  in  wild  lascivious  orgies  wherein  men  ceased 
to  be  men  and  women  no  longer  women,  and  wherein,  as 
a  beginning,  there  was  burnt  great  quantities  of  incense, 
and  bulls  and  horses  were  sacrificed  in  honour  of  the  god, 
and  finally  —  the  horror  of  it  —  little  children  were  given 
to  the  flames! 

The  image  of  Moloch  in  the  temple  was  a  beastly  human 
figure  of  metal,  with  a  huge  bull's  head  and  outreaching, 
receiving  arms.  In  the  grossly  protruding  belly  of  the 
monster  was  a  door  through  which  a  fire  was  built  within 
him,  that  children  laid  in  his  arms  might  roll  thence  into 
the  red  consuming  furnace  beneath!  What  strange  mad 
ness  of  faith  may  have  misled  and  impelled  them  in  their 
superstition  who  may  describe,  but,  incredible  indeed, 
there  were  those  who  thus  gave  up  their  children  willingly, 
even  the  first-born  and  the  only  one!  If  it  cried,  the 
mother  would  fondle  and  kiss  the  child  —  for  the  victim 
must  not  weep  —  and  the  pitiful  sound  would  be  drowned 
in  the  clamour  of  flutes  and  kettle-drums.  Silent  and 


266  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

unmoved  must  the  mother  stand,  for  if  she  wept  or  sobbed 
she  lost  the  honour  of  the  act  and  its  reward,  and  the  child 
was  sacrificed,  notwithstanding!  Could  there  have  been 
no  other  and  stronger  and  more  merciful  gods,  and  where 
were  they  when  such  things  came  to  pass?  But  of  these 
horrors  I  must  not  take  account.  I  avoided  them, 
and  we  lived  our  happy  life  remote,  my  wife  and  child 
and  I.  I  went  to  sea  content,  and  eager  only  for  swift 
trade  and  swift  return.  Scarce  knew  I  even  of  the 
existence  of  Phalos,  the  dark-visaged  high  priest  of 
Moloch. 

How  it  came  about  it  was  fated  I  should  never  know, 
but  I  can  dimly  reason.  Ever,  since  religion  began,  have 
the  priests  of  every  faith  used  woman,  credulous,  yield 
ing,  and  fatuous,  as  the  chief  instrument  for  promotion 
of  their  sinister  dominion.  Gentle  and  faithful  was  my 
Elissa,  but  somewhat  inclined  to  dreaminess  and  observing 
the  prayers  to  the  gods,  though  partaking  in  none  of  the 
rites  of  the  fanatics.  Most  resolute  she  was,  too,  when  a 
matter  became  fixed  in  her  mind,  though  to  me  she  al 
ways  yielded.  Yet  in  the  body  of  this  fair  and  gentle 
creature  might  lie,  ready  for  distorted  moulding,  the 
soul  of  a  new  zealot,  deadly  and  sacrificing.  Alas  for 
me! 

Most  profitable  had  been  my  voyage,  the  winds  were 
with  me  on  the  return,  and  I  was  full  of  the  joy  of  the 
thought  of  the  welcome  which  awaited  me,  when,  one 
afternoon,  a  sail  showed  far  in  our  front  and  swiftly  near- 
ing  us,  which  I  soon  recognized  as  that  of  Marinus,  cap 
tain  and  trader  like  myself  and  one  of  my  closest  and  most 
sturdy  friends.  Soon  he  made  signals  that  we  should 


THE  SAILORS  267 

check  our  course,  and  then  was  rowed  aboard  us.  His 
aspect  was  black  and  ominous. 

"Strain  every  sail!"  was  all  he  said  when  first  he 
spoke. 

Then  came  the  hideous  story!  How  or  when  he  knew 
not,  but  my  wife  had  passed  under  the  grim  spell  of  the 
priesthood,  especially  under  that  of  Phalos,  the  high  priest, 
a  man  overbearing  and  ruthless  and  ambitious.  Counting 
on  my  absence,  and  of  the  force  which  might  be  raised 
to  face  me  and  my  allies  on  my  return,  my  only  one,  the 
man-child  of  my  heart,  was  to  be  made  a  sacrifice  to 
Moloch  on  the  morrow,  and  so  the  too  truculent  and  ir 
religious  captains  be  taught,  through  me,  a  needed  lesson ! 
Swiftly  as  he  might,  Marinus,  trusty  friend,  had  put  to 
sea  to  warn  me,  and  now  he  would  sail  back  with  me  to 
aid  me  in  what  might  come. 

I  answered  not.  I  could  but  grasp  his  hand.  At  last 
my  voice  came  and  then  but  broke  forth  in  a  bellow  to 
spread  every  sail  and  man  every  oar  and  drive  forward  the 
ship  as  never  ship  was  driven  before!  How  they  sprang 
to  do  my  will?  What  look  of  deadly  import  came  upon 
the  faces  of  Malchus  and  Aradnus!  Marinus  departed 
for  his  own  ship,  to  follow  in  our  course. 

What  sudden  freedom  and  happiness  must  not  madness 
sometimes  bring!  How  good  to  change,  relieved  from 
agony  of  mind,  into  unknowing,  babbling  f orgetf ulness ! 
But  no  kindly  madness  came  to  me  in  those  long  hours 
when  the  ship,  though  so  forced  upon  her  way  that  Mari 
nus  was  left  behind,  yet  seemed  to  me  to  only  creep  along 
the  hindering  waves.  So  passed  the  long  night;  sullenly 
through  it  all  I  could  hold  converse  with  none,  though 


268  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

my  companions  would  comfort  me  in  my  affliction  and  so 
sought,  in  vain.  With  morning  the  wind  still  held  us, 
and  with  mid-afternoon  we  entered  the  harbour  of  fair 
Paphos.  Even  as  we  swung  inward  a  boat  darted  forth 
from  the  land  bringing  a  messenger  from  another  of  the 
captains  —  for  my  vessel  had  been  awaited  by  my 
friends  as  Marinus  had  arranged.  Then  fell  the  blow! 
Now,  even  now,  the  rites  in  the  great  temple  were  in  prog 
ress  and  my  child  about  to  be  offered  as  the  sacrifice! 

Then,  with  need  so  ghastly,  the  better  gods  gave  back 
my  reasoning  strength.  We  would  invade  the  temple 
and  would  make  a  rescue,  if  it  were  within  the  power  of 
man.  I  took  swift  and  stern  command  anew.  I  would 
lead  with  Malchus  and  Aradnus  next  and  a  portion  of  my 
crew  as  well,  the  others  remaining  to  hold  the  ship  in  in 
stant  readiness  for  sailing.  It  was  the  counsel  of  the  wise 
Aradnus  that,  should  the  child  be  saved,  we  should  sail 
at  once  for  Egypt,  where  were  a  host  of  friends,  and  where 
priests  of  Baal  had  sometimes  been  flayed  alive.  I  looked 
upon  my  brown-faced  crew  and  knew  that  I  could  trust 
them,  even  the  sun-burnt  galley  slaves.  How  many  times 
had  all  these  ranged  dangerously  beside  me  in  times  of 
struggle  with  the  savages !  I  took  from  my  weapon  chest 
a  certain  Assyrian  axe  I  cherished,  short-haf ted  but  broad 
and  keen  of  edge  and  heavy.  I  kissed  the  axe  and  laid 
it  against  my  cheek  and  then  thrust  it  in  the  bosom  of  my 
tunic.  We  landed  swiftly  and  rushed  toward  the  temple. 
Vast  was  the  throng  about  the  structure,  and  inside  I 
knew  must  be  as  dense,  save  for  the  great  open  space 
before  the  place  of  sacrifice.  Wedge-shaped  we  struck 
the  heaving  mass  and  drove  through  it  as  wild  boars 


THE  SAILORS  269 

through  reeds,  straight  past  the  entrance,  even  to  the 
inner  circle  of  the  mad  worshippers,  and,  as  I  leaped  clear 
of  them,  my  eyes  were  smitten  with  the  whole  dread  pic 
ture!  There,  before  the  altar  and  the  beastly  red-heated 
image  of  the  leering  god,  side  by  side  stood  Elissa  and 
Phalos,  the  grim  high  priest,  he  stern  in  his  power  so  man 
ifested,  she  proud  and  erect  as  she  passed  my  child  into 
his  waiting  hands.  How  a  blasting  picture  can  trans 
form  a  man ! 

In  all  the  world  of  living  men  there  was  not  another 
then  so  strong  as  I;  in  all  the  wastes  and  desert  places  of 
the  vast  forests  there  was  not  a  wild  beast  more  ferocious; 
in  all  the  earth  or  in  the  heavens  above  there  was  no  being 
with  more  swift  and  certain  mission!  I  bounded  across 
the  space  between  us,  leaping  to  Phalos  even  as  he  took 
the  child  and  was  about  to  face  the  grinning  idol,  and 
then,  as  he  turned  at  my  hoarse  shout  and  our  eyes  met 
glaringly,  I  drove  that  Assyrian  axe  down  through  that 
head,  down  through  that  crafty  brain,  down  sheer  between 
the  hating  eyes,  and,  as  I  caught  the  child,  he  fell  crump- 
lingly  as  any  poled  bull  of  one  of  his  own  sacrifices!  I 
saw  but  as  an  instant's  vision  Elissa  sink  to  earth  in  a 
white  swoon,  and  bounded  with  my  child  toward  the 
entrance  where  the  fray  was  raging,  while  about  and  be 
hind  me  rose  first  the  groan  and  then  the  yell  of  vengeance 
of  the  frenzied  worshippers.  Naught  for  the  moment 
checked  me  with  my  circling  axe  seeking  more  blood. 
I  reached  nearly  to  my  followers,  so  near  to  Aradnus  that 
I  tossed  the  child  to  him  over  the  intervening  heads  and 
had  the  joy  of  seeing  him,  upon  my  shout,  bound  away 
with  it  toward  our  vessel  and  so  preserve  its  safety.  Nearer 


270  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

and  nearer  to  my  own  men  I  struggled,  but  I  could  not 
reach  them.  The  fierce  guards  of  the  priest  were  all  about 
me  now  and  a  thousand  of  the  mob  were  crowding  sav 
agely  behind  them.  I  felt  a  spear  thrust  in  my  side,  and 
then  another,  and  so  went  down  most  happily.  My  man- 
child  would  become  a  man  in  Egypt ! 


CHAPTER   XIII 

THE  HERCYNIAN  FOREST 

WHAT  it  was  which  had  changed  the  nature  of  my 
dream  so  suddenly  I  could  not  understand  at 
first.  Most  curious  fancies  had  come  to  me, 
visions  of  what  I  had  certainly  never  seen  in  all  my  hunt 
ing  and  battling,  but  which  were  familiar  enough  to  me 
and  comprehensible,  until  I  awoke.  There  were  boats 
with  broad  sails,  though  little  of  the  sea  had  we  of  the 
great  forest  ever  looked  upon,  and  there  were  cities 
beside  which  our  villages  were  but  as  the  swamp  villages 
of  the  ever-toiling  beaver.  There  was  conflict,  as  well, 
yet  that,  I  thought,  did  not  surpass  in  quality  the  manner 
of  our  own  fierce  battling,  for  we  were  fighters  of  some 
zest. 

I  had  been  aroused  by  sounds  quite  apart  from  those 
which  had  come  to  my  fancy  with  sleep  on  the  heaped 
leaves  beneath  the  beech  tree.  Most  unlike  either  the 
sounds  of  the  sea  or  of  rude  conflict  were  those  which 
reached  my  ears  as  I  came  slowly  to  a  sense  of  wakening 
being;  they  were  of  a  kind  all  their  own  and  having  a 
quality  much  too  significant  and  close  and  threatening.  It 
was  a  snuffling,  blowing  sound  which  first  aroused  me  as  I 
lay  with  my  eyes  still  closed,  and  at  last  a  grunting  and 
snort  and  rumble  which  was  half  a  bellow,  and  a  harsh  paw 
ing  of  the  leaves  and  earth.  My  eyes  opened  most  suddenly, 

271 


•27-2  A  SOX  OF  THE  AGES 

and  what  they  saw  brought  a  feeling  in  the  middle  of  me 
which  was  most  uncomfortable.  Within  a  yard  of  me, 
his  head  lowered,  his  nostrils  quivering  and  his  eyes  gleam 
ing,  pawing  the  ground  in  what  was  fast  becoming  a  rage 
at  the  thing  before  him,  stood  braced  a  monster  aurochs! 
The  aurochs  was  most  enormous  of  all  the  beasts  we  knew 
and,  when  enraged,  by  far  most  to  be  dreaded,  unless,  it 
might  be,  the  huge  brown  bear,  though  the  bear  himself 
never  dared  face  the  aurochs.  Here  was  a  situation  for 
a  man  to  awaken  to,  but  after  the  first  moment  I  was  not 
alarmed.  I  knew  the  nature  of  the  aurochs  well.  Had 
he  been  in  pursuit  of  me,  wounded,  perhaps,  by  spear  or 
arrow,  nothing  could  have  turned  the  monster  from  his 
wrath,  but  here  the  case  was  different.  The  beast  had 
come  upon  me  but  by  merest  chance  and,  advancing  only 
in  curiosity  upon  this  thing  lying  prone,  had  encountered 
the  dreaded  man-smell  and  had  been  so  roused.  I  knew 
my  need.  I  sprang  to  my  feet  with  arms  outflung,  emit 
ting  a  most  unnatural  and  blood-curdling  roar,  and,  even 
as  I  leaped,  the  startled  brute,  leviathan  though  he  was, 
whirled  as  on  a  pivot  with  a  hoarse  bellow  which  was 
rather  a  bleat  of  fear,  and  went  crashing  into  the  forest 
whence  I  could  hear  the  crackling  of  the  bushes  hundreds 
of  yards  away. 

I  was  all  myself  now,  as  assuredly  I  should  be,  after 
such  a  rude  awakening.  I  stood  there,  comprehend- 
ingly,  Scar,  warrior  and  hunter,  a  strong  man  of  the  Che- 
rusci,  than  whom  there  was  not  a  braver  tribe  among  the 
scores  which  occupied  the  vast  Hercynian  forest  and  took 
part  in  its  fierce  struggles. 

A  world  in  itself,  a  world  of  its  own  great  kind,  was  this 


THE  HERCYXIAX  FOREST  273 

Hercynian  forest,  extending  boundlessly  eastward  from 
the  Rhine  River  and  north  to  the  German  Ocean,  and 
south  until  it  reached  far  toward  the  great  sea  of  which 
we  had  slight  knowledge,  a  huge  and  densely  wooded  land 
of  varied  nature  of  mountain,  hill  and  plain  and,  near  its 
shores,  of  deep  rivers  and  endless  marshes,  but  mostly 
vast  and  sullen  forests  in  which  ranged  many  wild  beasts 
and  which,  because  of  its  huge  extent,  sustained  strong 
tribes  and  clans,  who,  though  scattered  widely  in  villages 
or  roving  bands,  made,  together,  a  great  host. 

Alienee  we  had  come  we  did  not  know  more  than  that 
we  of  the  north  were  of  the  Ingsevones,  a  numerous 
people  who  in  ages  past  had  come  from  a  far  country 
to  the  eastward,  one  so  distant  that  years  were  required 
in  the  hard  migration,  and  the  ways  of  which  we  had  long 
since  forgotten.  We  had  divided  into  tribes  and  had 
taken  names  for  these  and  were  often  at  war  with  each 
other,  having,  up  to  this  time,  no  sort  of  confederation 
for  need  against  a  common  enemy,  such  as  lay  beyond 
the  Rhine  to  the  westward,  or  other  nations  on  other 
sides.  Of  these  we  knew  many  things,  though  not  so 
clearly  as  we  might  have  done,  for  with  them  we  had 
naught  in  common,  being  well  satisfied  with  our  homes 
and  manners  in  our  forest  fastnesses.  "That  to  the  south 
and  eastward  there  were  those  who  had  great  cities  and 
who  sailed  the  great  southern  sea  we  knew,  that  to 
the  west,  beyond  the  Rhine,  were  the  people  of  the  Gauls 
we  knew,  and  that  we  were  usually  enemies  to  them,  and 
this  was  all.  Our  own  drift  as  we  grew,  at  least  of  the 
Cherusci,  was  northward  from  the  headwaters  of  the 
rivers  called  the  Elbe  and  Weser.  South  and  east  of  us 


274  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

and  near  us  lay  the  tribes  with  whom  we  sometimes  had 
good  fighting. 

And  how  could  we  in  our  deep  green  fastnesses  know 
greatly  of  the  outside  peoples?  From  the  tales  our  fathers 
had  told  and  from  the  Gauls  across  the  Rhine  we  had 
learned  something,  it  is  true.  We  knew  of  the  eastern 
peoples  only  that  they  were  very  old  and  very  distant. 
Of  the  Assyrians  and  Babylonians  and  the  Egyptians 
that  they  still  existed,  and  that  a  race  called  the  Phoeni 
cians  inhabited  the  land  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  great 
southern  sea  and  made  rare  weapons  such  as  had  some 
times  come  to  us,  and  that  they  sailed  and  traded  much. 
Grown  strong,  too,  were  now  an  island  people  called  the 
Greeks.  We  knew,  too,  from  our  Gaulish  neighbours 
whom  we  fought  so  often,  that  a  new  dread  had  come  upon 
even  them  and  that  far  to  the  south,  not  distant  from  the 
sea,  a  new  nation  appeared,  arising  swiftly,  and  that  its 
people  were  ever  ready  for  war  and  very  dangerous. 
Dwelling  in  a  village  they  called  Roma  —  which  was  al 
ready  becoming  a  mighty  place — Jts  people  made  in 
vasions  upon  the  territories  of  their  neighbours,  though 
its  clans  were  ever  fighting  among  themselves.  All  these 
things  we  learned,  but  little  heeded.  What  cared  we  for 
the  stories  of  the  peoples  of  past  ages?  We  wanted  only 
our  own  great  forest  and  our  own  gods,  our  own  wars,  and 
no  invasions  from  strangers  from  afar. 

So  all  through  the  great  forest  lay  our  tribes  and  lived 
their  various  wild  lives,  which  nevertheless  had  much  of 
order  in  their  way  and  cleanness  of  living  and  obedience 
to  our  laws.  Of  religion  we  had  something,  though  it 
did  not  bear  upon  us  with  unwholesome  stress.  For  what 


THE  HERCYNIAN  FOREST  275 

may  have  been  the  faith  of  our  Asian  ancestors  we  cared 
not.  Woden  and  Frigga  and  their  retinue  of  lesser  deities 
sufficed  us  and  appeared  to  serve  us  well. 

Yet  we,  barbarians  as  we  were  called  by  the  distant 
and  older  peoples,  lived  lives  such  as  in  their  uprightness 
of  a  kind  might  well  have  compared  with  the  lives  of  later 
and  craftier  ages.  Clearly  denned  were  the  lines  or  marks 
which  showed  the  limit  of  each  tribe's  wide  land,  and  so 
within  them  were  the  marks  of  each  clan  which  had  a 
village.  The  villages,  indeed,  were  almost  little  coun 
tries  by  themselves,  having  scant  relationship  with  each 
other,  save  at  the  Folk-Moot  —  which,  even  now,  was 
not  an  old  thing,  but  which  gave  to  us  a  form  and  saved 
much  bloodshed  —  though  ties  of  blood  were  strong  and, 
among  themselves,  though  so  separated  and  each  clinging 
to  his  clan  or  village,  the  Cherusci  dwelt  in  rude  brotherly 
accord.  It  is  but  fair  to  say  as  much  of  those  of  other 
tribes  often  our  feudal  enemies.  Of  vices,  we  had  but 
two,  the  lust  for  fighting  and  the  vast  drinking  of  strong 
mead  to  glorious  drunkenness.  For  the  rest,  we  obeyed 
the  Folk-Moot,  where  such  laws  as  we  had  were  made 
when  we  assembled,  and  regarded  well  the  mark  line  and 
the  lines  which  gave  the  allotted  portions  or  hides  of  land, 
and  the  rights  to  the  nut  woods  of  oak  and  beech  where 
fed  the  swine,  and  where  were  the  rare  salt  springs,  and  the 
name  sign  on  the  trees  of  him  who  had  found  wild  honey. 
In  each  family  its  head  was  lord.  Furthermore  —  and  who 
would  think  it  of  so-called  barbarians?  —  our  women  were 
well  regarded,  the  wife  was  the  husband's  counsellor 
and  friend,  and  purity  and  chastity  were  held  the  rule  for 
all.  We  were  a  strong  and  healthy  race,  great  of  stature, 


276  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

fair  or  more  often  red  of  hair  —  which,  man  and  woman, 
we  wore  long,  —  and  gray  or  blue  of  eye.  The  youth 
were  trained  to  hardihood,  and  the  brood  of  either  sex 
was  ever  a  numerous  and  goodly  one.  What  wonder 
that  there  was  among  the  multitude  of  forest  dwellers  no 
envy  of  those  of  the  outer  world,  —  unless,  it  might  be  of 
their  more  finished  weapons,  —  and  but  a  desire  for  our 
continued  isolation?  We  were  most  jealous  of  our  lands. 
Even  our  villages  were  far  apart  and  their  wide  bound 
aries  of  surrounding  wildness  well  defended.  Of  the  many 
usages  and  ways  of  ours  I  shall  tell  further. 

There  were  certain  clans  who  had  no  fixed  abode,  wan 
dering  long  distances  and  living  in  huts  to  be  abandoned; 
but  such  as  these  had  become  fewer  and  fewer  and  now 
most  of  the  people  lived  in  villages,  some  little  and  some 
great,  but  all  with  broad  lands  about  them,  whose  bound 
aries  were  marked  in  many  ways,  some  by  scarred  trees, 
sometimes  by  stones  and  sometimes  by  other  tokens.  So, 
as  well,  were  marked  the  limits  of  the  hides  of  lands 
allotted  to  each  family,  and  these  must  by  no  means  be 
disregarded,  either  the  village  mark,  or  the  limit  of  the 
allotments.  He  who  took  an  allotment,  too,  must,  in 
token  of  possession  and  defense,  break  a  branch  from  some 
tree  upon  it,  or  seat  himself  in  the  midst  of  the  field,  or 
build  a  fire  upon  it,  for  its  ownership  was  a  grave  matter 
and  not  to  be  considered  lightly.  Some  tilling  the  women 
did,  though  we  were,  as  yet,  but  little  farmers,  and  they 
also  wove  and  spun.  As  for  the  men,  we  lived  first  for 
the  fighting  and  the  honour,  and  chiefly  next,  it  seemed  to 
me,  for  the  feasting  and  deep  drinking,  with  hunting  and 
fishing  and  the  fashioning  of  weapons  as  our  only  labour. 


THE  HERCYNIAN  FOREST  277 

Great  were  our  feasts  and  it  sometimes  happened  that  they 
had  more  to  them  than  mere  carousal,  especially  when  the 
feast  was  to  one  who  had  died  valiantly  in  battle.  There 
would  be  much  eating  and  drinking,  it  is  true,  but  there 
would  also  be  much  praise  of  the  dead,  which  came  gen 
erously  from  great  hearts,  and  earnest  prayers  that  Woden 
would  receive  the  hero  kindly.  It  seems  to  me  that  it 
was  to  our  honour  that  we  did  not  forget  our  dead,  not  even 
the  little  ones  who  passed,  and  I  recall  me  that  I  made  and 
kept  for  a  friend  one  for  whom  I  had  heretofore  cared 
slightly,  because,  when  his  child  died,  he  had  buried  in  the 
grave  of  the  little  one  its  foolish  playthings  and  had  slain 
a  dog  the  child  had  loved  and  buried  it  also,  that  the  dog 
might  show  the  helpless  and  timorous  one  the  way  to 
the  country  of  the  dead.  Stark  and  harsh  and  rough  we 
were,  but,  in  some  things,  we  were  most  kindly  and  but  as 
children. 

We  had  a  kind  of  reverence  for  some  of  the  things  about 
us.  The  oak  tree  we  much  regarded,  and  next  to  it  the 
beech,  not  alone  because  they  gave  acorns  and  nuts  to 
our  herds  of  swine  and  to  ourselves  in  times  of  strait,  but 
because  we  held  that  they  possessed  a  sort  of  sanctity. 
Curious  it  was,  too,  that  one  insect  should  be  so  regarded. 
This  was  the  bee.  Great  was  the  value  to  us  of  the  honey 
the  bees  furnished,  our  only  sweet,  and  of  its  use  in  the 
making  of  our  strong  mead.  Hence  came  the  marking  of 
the  bee  trees  wherein  was  stored  their  honey.  Heavily 
was  he  punished  who  cut  down  and  plundered  a  marked 
bee  tree,  but  if  it  were  not  marked  by  the  first  finder  there 
was  no  punishment.  So  it  was  that  about  the  bee  grew 
up  a  sort  of  faith.  Bees,  it  was  held,  had  a  language  of 


278  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

their  own  and  could  understand  what  was  said  to  them, 
and  it  was  not  counted  wise  to  kill  one.  To  be  a  hunter 
of  the  trees  in  which  the  bees  concealed  their  stores  was 
counted  worthy  of  even  a  warrior,  and  I  was  proud  that 
at  this  I  had  been  gifted  with  no  mean  ability.  Well 
must  he  know  the  wilds  and  be  ready  to  fare  patiently 
and  far  who  would  discover  where  the  creatures  hid  their 
treasure,  and  shrewd  must  be  his  knowledge  and  close  his 
nature  to  the  wild  things.  It  may  be  that  I  was  thus 
close,  for  I  was  somewhat  a  man  apart  and  had  my  dream 
ing  ways.  I  had  no  wife.  There  had  been  one  among  the 
maidens,  deep-eyed  and  fair  and  strong  and  red  of  hair 
as  I,  whom  I  had  loved  much  and  who  would  rest  in  the 
place  in  my  arms,  but  our  wood  gods  had  it  otherwise. 
There  came  a  time  of  fever,  and  she  died,  and  after  she 
had  been  buried  with  my  golden  bracelet  pledge  on  her 
round  white  arm,  I  cared  no  more  for  women.  My  bed 
was  in  my  brother's  house,  and  his  children  cherished  me, 
but  I  loved  the  woods  and  the  chase  and  the  bee-hunting 
and  was  much  away,  with  all  my  fancies,  at  some  of  which 
the  warriors  laughed,  saying  that  I  was  sometimes  not 
unlike  a  dreaming  girl,  though  it  had  been  I  who  brought 
home  upon  my  spear  the  head  of  the  grim  Suevi  champion 
after  one  of  our  hardest  battles. 

All  was  not  unbroken  forest  in  our  region;  there  were 
blue  mountains  far  to  the  south,  and  here  and  there  were 
little  plains,  and  in  the  forest  itself  were  sometimes  clear 
spaces,  flower-covered,  where  the  bees  sought  honey  for 
their  storing.  I  have  clearly  in  mind  a  day  when  I  sought 
one  of  these  smiling  distant  places. 

Often  have  I  questioned  myself  if  it  be  meet  or  becoming 


THE  HERCYNIAN  FOREST  279 

in  the  strong  man  to  consider  and  often  delight  in  the 
fair  and  curious  things  upon  which  his  eyes  may  rest,  or 
feel  the  joyousness  which  comes  to  him  through  other 
senses.  Should  not  his  thoughts  and  desires  dwell  only 
on  sterner  and  graver  matters  —  the  fight,  the  chase,  the 
keen  searching  for  the  honey  stores  and  the  protection  of 
the  herds?  This  puzzlement  I  can  by  no  means  decide, 
but  this  I  know  that  ever  I  follow  my  own  will  carelessly, 
and  so  have  had  much  pleasure  without  effort,  save  to 
smell  or  look  or  listen.  Why  should  I  not?  Does  not 
the  brawniest  and  most  soil  or  blood  stained  warrior 
smack  his  lips  over  the  rich  juices  of  the  cooked  bird,  and 
do  not  his  eyes  gleam  as  the  mead  runs  down  his  tickled 
gullet?  Do  I  not  myself  enjoy  these  things,  and  why 
should  not  I,  if  I  have  the  mood,  regale  my  other  senses? 
Yet,  as  I  have  said,  my  comrades  would  sometimes  jeer 
at  me  and  call  me  foolish  names  because,  forsooth,  I  re 
joiced  in  the  many  glories  of  the  world.  Little  cared  I! 
It  was  somewhat  known  of  men  that  my  thews  were 
mighty,  my  spear  a  sharp  one  and  my  axe  of  goodly  weight, 
as  had  been  proved  in  stubborn  battle,  and  so  I  fed  my 
fancies  when  I  willed.  On  a  day  of  which  I  speak  they 
had  food  worth  while,  for  surely  there  could  be  no  fairer 
or  more  bounteous  place  than  this  for  their  indulgence. 

It  was  a  clearing  enclosed  by  forest  on  every  side.  A 
tornado  may  once  have  stripped  away  the  trees  upon  it, 
for  it  lay  on  rising  ground,  and  fire  had  doubtless  swept 
it  afterward.  Upon  it  now  was  no  growth  save  many 
clumps  of  bushes,  some  of  them  in  heavy  bloom,  and  soft 
greensward  and  flowers  of  a  thousand  kinds,  of  every  hue 
which  flowers  may  have.  Was  it  unworthy  of  me  as  a 


280  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

hunter  and  proved  warrior  that  I  stood  unmoving  for  a 
time  and  allowed  my  eyes  to  feed  their  fill  upon  such  a 
scene  as  this?  Was  it  not,  in  its  way,  as  good  as  the  taste 
of  deer's  meat  or  as  the  gurgle  of  the  heartening  mead  in 
the  throat?  And  there  was  more  than  the  eyes  alone  could 
comprehend. 

Myriads  of  eager  bees  were  humming  above  that  gay 
spread  of  flowers,  and  the  united  sound  of  the  commingled 
droning  had  such  volume  that  it  made  seem  fainter  the 
singing  of  the  birds  in  the  wood  about,  though  not  many 
were  to  be  heard  at  this  hour  of  the  day.  A  few  generous 
ones  there  were,  though,  their  voices  of  such  sweet  quality 
as  to  commingle  softly  with  the  mighty  humming  and 
seem  almost  to  form  a  part  of  it. 

Yet  what  idle  talk  is  this?  It  seems  but  foolish  to  tell 
thus  of  the  flowers  and  bees  and  of  our  more  peaceful 
doings,  though,  mayhap,  it  will  make  more  clear  the  col 
ouring  of  the  lives  of  us  —  the  mighty  forest  people.  Was 
I  like  the  weak  Buoba,  of  the  village,  who  was  not  endur 
ing  in  the  chase  and  who  had  never  been  in  battle,  but 
who  sometimes  made  soft  verses  and  who  told  strange 
tales  and  was,  somehow,  not  a  little  beloved?  WThat  of  it? 
There  was  the  sound  in  my  ears,  and  the  ears  were  surely 
my  own  as  was  my  fancy.  And  not  alone  were  my  ears 
and  eyes  made  glad,  for  there  rose  from  that  great  field 
of  bloom  such  volume  and  drift  of  perfume  as  filled  my 
nostrils  to  their  utmost  depths  and  which,  wafted  through 
the  forest  by  the  wind,  might  well  call  from  a  far  distance 
the  hosts  of  labouring  bees.  The  fragrance,  I  fancied  for 
a  moment,  had  its  effect  even  on  the  great  stag  which 
came  from  out  the  wood  across  from  me  and  raised  his  head 


THE  HERCYNIAN  FOREST          281 

aloft  and  sniffed  the  air,  though  it  is  more  likely  he  was 
but  assuring  himself  against  all  danger  ere  he  began  his 
feeding.  He  did  not  dally  at  that,  and  was  setting  me  a 
good  example,  for  certainly  I  had  not  come  here  to  regale 
my  senses,  so  I  strode  into  the  sunny  clearing  as  he,  with  a 
great  snort  of  alarm,  bounded  upward  and  then  into  the 
wood  again.  In  this  field  must  begin  my  quest  for  the 
places  of  lofty  beehives  to  be  plundered,  and  thus  I  set 
about  it: 

I  had  brought  my  weapons  with  me,  for  he  is  foolish 
who  would  go  unarmed  into  the  forest,  but  other  things 
I  carried  as  well,  since  there  was  much  craft  to  be  dis 
played  in  this  hunting  for  the  bee  stores.  I  had  beeswax 
with  me  and  a  portion  of  honey  in  the  comb,  and  also  a 
staff  sharpened  at  one  end,  having  at  the  other  a  fastened 
box  without  a  cover.  The  staff  I  thrust  into  the  ground 
and  the  honeycomb  I  placed  in  the  box  above.  Then  I 
found  a  flattish  stone  near  by  and  brought  it  to  near  the 
staff,  and  upon  it,  using  my  flint  and  the  back  of  my 
hunting-knife,  kindled  a  tiny  fire  upon  which  I  laid  the 
wax.  Very  soon  the  wax  melted  and  there  arose  from  it 
a  little  smoke  and  an  odour  which  was  wafted  to  the 
myriads  of  incoming  bees  and  at  once  attracted  them. 
Swerving  from  their  course,  they  circled  a  little  and  then 
settled  down  upon  the  awaiting  honey,  a  prize  of  note  for 
them,  since  it  would  require  no  alchemy  of  theirs  in  fitting 
it  for  storage.  Then  I  had  naught  to  do  but  to  watch. 
One  by  one,  each  rioting  bee  there  gorged  to  the  full  and 
then,  rising  upon  heavy  wing,  flew  toward  the  forest 
whence  it  had  come,  straight  as  the  downward  dropping  of 
a  stone.  Some  flew  in  one  direction  and  others  on  a 


A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

different  course,  but  I  followed  with  my  eye  the  flight 
only  of  the  company  which  seemed  most  numerous. 
Straight  toward  the  west  they  went,  toward  where  I  knew 
was  a  swamp,  beyond  which  was  a  forest  of  great  oaks. 
Their  home  I  knew  could  not  be  in  the  swamp;  hence 
somewhere  in  the  oaks,  most  like  of  all  places.  How 
deeply  in  the  forest  it  might  be  I  could  not  tell  as  yet,  but 
soon  would  know  in  a  degree.  Across  the  field  I  carried 
the  staff  and  stone  and  did  just  as  I  had  already  done,  the 
bees,  as  before,  coming  in  numbers  to  the  feast.  Again  I 
watched,  noting  most  carefully  the  direction  of  the  flight 
of  the  group  I  had  first  chosen,  and  saw  that  now  they  flew 
not  straight  toward  the  west,  but  a  very  little  to  the  north 
of  it.  Now  I  had  become  a  menace  to  them!  I  knew 
that  their  home  and  place  of  storage  was  at  the  point  where 
the  two  lines  I  had  determined  met,  and  it  seemed,  judg 
ing  as  best  I  might,  that  it  could  not  be  a  great  way  in  the 
far-extending  wood.  Around  the  swamp  I  went  with  all 
my  gear.  As  I  neared  its  western  side  I  set  my  staff  again 
and  watched  the  flight  once  more,  then,  faring  still  far 
ther  until  I  had  passed  the  western  end  some  little  dis 
tance,  I  did  the  same  and  found,  to  my  delight,  that  the 
two  flights  appeared  to  come  together  at  some  point  not 
more  than  some  four  or  five  hundred  yards  within  the 
depths  of  the  towering  oak  wood.  There  I  but  circled 
about,  the  bees  coming  to  the  honey  now  in  hosts,  and  as 
soon  as  they  were  laden  flying  almost  directly  upward. 
Very  keenly  I  searched  upward  now  and  found  what  I  was 
seeking.  Extending  straight  outward  and  upward  from 
the  trunk  of  the  mightiest  of  the  oaks  was  a  giant  blasted 
limb,  and  upon  its  side  I  could  perceive  a  fissure  in  and 


THE  HERCYNIAN  FOREST  283 

out  of  which  the  bees  were  coming  and  going  in  countless 
numbers.  Mine  was  the  bee  tree!  I  drew  forth  my 
short  axe  and  cut  the  mark  which  all  recognized  as  mine, 
three  crosses,  one  above  another  —  we  had  no  letters  or 
written  language  as  yet,  as  had  some  eastern  nations  — 
deeply  into  the  great  tree's  bole,  and  so  made  sure  my  prize. 
Venturesome  would  be  he  who  should  cut  down  the  tree 
thus  marked  by  me.  That  toil  should  be  my  own  when 
I  so  decided,  a  great  toil  doubtless,  but  one  worth  bearing, 
for  the  limb  was  huge  and  the  bees  a  vast  swarm,  and 
within  the  lofty  hollow  must  be  stored  honey  to  sweeten 
the  bread  of  many  a  feast  and  supply  the  mead  for  many 
a  score  of  brimming  urus  horns.  Thus  sought  I  the 
honey ! 

Our  houses  were  all  of  wood,  and  simply  built.  We  had 
no  glass  for  our  windows,  and  it  was  not  uncommon  that 
skins  were  hung  before  them,  to  be  held  aside  by  thongs 
or  left  hanging  down  for  protection  against  storms  or  the 
cold,  as  the  season  and  the  weather  might  determine.  In 
side,  the  furnishing  was  as  rude  and  simple,  but  there  were 
home  life  and  comfort  there,  except  sometimes  in  winter, 
for  with  us  the  winters  were  often  bitter.  That  we  did 
not  suffer  greatly  at  this  season  was  because  of  our  prac 
tice  in  building  our  habitations.  The  better  houses  rested 
upon  logs  reaching  across  above  a  great  cellar  which  in 
winter  could  be  made  the  living-room,  affording  sure  pro 
tection  from  the  cold.  Somewhat  lacking  in  pure  air 
this  underground  hall  might  be,  but  here  was  much  com 
panionship  and  merriment.  Here  mighty  bows  were 
fashioned  and  here  the  women  wove  the  spun  linen  which 
we  wore  beneath  our  robes  of  skin  and  fur.  There  was 


284  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

rarely  lack  of  food,  and  so  the  winters,  long  and  keen,  were 
not  greatly  a  terror  to  us.  Our  cattle  and  horses  and  our 
herds  of  swine  fared  not  so  well,  but,  somehow,  lived, 
for  they  were  hardened  to  the  climate  and  to  scant  feeding 
upon  mown  marsh  grass  and  store  of  garnered  mast. 

It  was  not  in  the  winter  alone,  however,  that  we  were 
forced  to  guard  our  various  herds.  The  big  brown  bear 
had  a  fondness  for  the  hog  or  colt  or  calf,  and  was  not 
inclined  to  make  the  attempt  upon  the  family  of  the  huge 
wild  boar  when  lesser  prey  was  to  be  found,  and  the  many 
prowling  wolves  had  tastes  as  trained.  In  winter  es 
pecially  were  the  wolves  menacing,  for  then  they  gathered 
in  packs  and  were  dangerous  to  man  and  beast  alike.  The 
fierce  lynx  was  another  enemy. 

Yet  we  could  not  grumble  at  the  forest,  which  we  loved. 
If  it  had  its  perils  it  was  none  the  less  our  provider  and  our 
protection.  It  gave  us  nearly  all  we  had,  and,  first  of  all, 
abundant  food.  There  were  the  aurochs  and  urus  and 
wild  hogs  and  the  great  stag  and  lesser  deer,  and  grouse 
and  geese  and  ducks  and  various  other  game ;  and  we  were 
shrewd  hunters.  Sometimes  we  made  pits  for  the  au 
rochs  or  the  urus,  and  sometimes  hunted  and  slew  them 
with  bow  and  spear,  though  such  latter  chase  was  always 
for  those  possessed  of  hardihood.  The  aurochs,  the  mon 
ster  bison,  most  ponderous  creature  of  the  forest,  was  not 
inclined  to  attack  man  if  unassailed,  though  his  charge 
when  it  came  could  not  be  stopped.  But  with  the  urus 
it  was  different.  He  would  assail  the  hunter  whenever 
he  perceived  one,  and  few  there  were  who  dared  to  meet 
his  onset  with  the  spear.  The  wild  boar  was  scarcely 
less  evil  in  his  temper.  As  for  the  hungry,  lumbering 


THE  HERCYNIAN  FOREST  285 

brown  bear,  he  often  stole  upon  or  pursued  man  as  the 
opportunity  came,  seeking  only  to  devour. 

We  were  well  armed,  though  in  a  somewhat  varied  man 
ner,  for  we  had  little  metal  and  there  were  few  in  our 
scattered  villages  who  could  forge  the  weapons,  and  so  it 
was  that  those  possessed  were  cherished.  There  were 
axes  and  spears  and  swords  of  copper,  and  more  of  bronze, 
and  a  few  of  the  new  metal  —  iron,  which  men  had  but 
lately  learned  to  use,  and  all  these  were  from  our  fathers 
or  gained  in  battle,  or,  more  lately,  through  a  trade  drift 
ing  through  many  hands  from  the  far  people  who  made 
fine  weapons.  So  it  came  that  a  goodly  sword  or  spear 
or  axe  was  a  prize  always  to  be  sought  and  the  gaining 
of  which  gave  zest  and  aim  to  many  a  raid  and  risk.  My 
own  sword  had  descended  to  me,  but  my  battle-axe  had 
not  so  long  ago  belonged  to  a  chief  of  the  rude  Chauci,  the 
tribe  to  our  west  who  had  such  a  longing  for  possession 
of  our  salt  spring,  greatest  holding  of  our  wide  mark. 
Salt! 

For  the  sake  of  salt  we  would  submit  to  any  labour, 
endure  all  hardship  or  face  any  peril  which  might  arise. 
Without  it  our  life  must  be  a  different  thing  and  harder. 
Without  it  how  could  we  preserve  our  meat  and  fish  and 
have  the  best  provision  for  our  grim  winters?  Our  eating 
had  the  greater  flavor  from  it,  and  with  it  we  were  more 
assured  of  having  that  which  to  eat.  Honey  was  good 
and  the  mead  from  it  arousing  and  exalting,  yet  what 
gave  they  but  pleasure? 

The  use  of  salt  seemed  as  the  line  between  the  good  and 
the  bad,  between  the  foul  and  cleanly.  The  wolf  and  all 
the  musky  beasts  of  prey  abhorred  it,  while  the  whole- 


286  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

some  ones,  the  aurochs  and  urus  and  stag  and  deer, 
sought  for  it  eagerly  where  the  water  seeped  from  the 
spring  into  the  long  grass  of  the  marshes.  It  had  become 
to  us  a  first  necessity,  as  it  had  to  those  of  other  tribes. 
It  was  like  a  symbol  of  life  to  us,  in  that  it  preserved  and 
saved  from  putrefaction.  It  had  become  a  part  of  our 
existence.  What  should  we  do  without  it?  To  our  di 
rect  and  simple  reasoning,  it  seemed  a  substance  kindly 
and  aiding,  apart  from  other  things,  and  vaguely  sancti 
fied.  It  was  thought  that  from  the  salt  springs  prayers 
to  the  gods  ascended  more  quickly  than  from  elsewhere, 
and,  sometimes,  when  the  land  allowed,  places  of  shelter 
for  worship  were  made  beside  them.  So,  the  possession 
of  a  salt  spring  —  though  there  were  many  within  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  great  forest  —  was  something 
to  be  guarded  and  to  be  fought  for  to  the  death.  Many 
a  spear  had  been  thrown,  many  a  sword  thrust,  many  an 
arrow  sped,  and  many  an  axe  had  risen  and  fallen  about 
the  salt  springs.  What  wonder  that  we  fought  for  them 
as  we  would  fight  for  home  and  wives  and  children  — 
doing  stern  battle,  to  whatever  end  might  come ! 

Our  own  spring,  by  what  was  our  mischance,  lay  at  a 
distance  from  our  village  near  to  the  border  of  the  Chauci, 
of  whom  I  have  spoken,  and  was  a  vast  temptation  to 
them.  Our  village  would  assuredly  have  been  built  be 
side  it  but  that  the  spring  issued  from  a  little  rise  of  land 
within  the  edge  of  a  great  marsh,  with  a  damp  lowland  all 
about,  such  location  as  might  in  no  wise  serve  for  a  proper 
dwelling  place.  There  was  no  shelter  near,  and  the  winds 
came  harshly  from  the  distant  sea.  Nevertheless,  we 
builded  a  great  shed  beside  the  spring  as  a  shelter  in  time 


THE  HERCYNIAN  FOREST  287 

of  the  salt-making,  and  raised  a  barricade  of  logs  upon 
the  forest  side  as  some  means  of  defense  in  case  an  enemy 
should  make  an  onslaught.  As  often  as  we  needed  it  the 
most  accustomed  of  the  tribe  would  make  an  encampment 
by  the  spring  and  there  prepare  the  salt,  though  in  a  way 
unlike  that  of  our  ancestors,  who  had  been  accustomed 
to  get  the  salt  in  a  most  curious  manner,  building  a  fire 
of  logs  and  quenching  the  flames  with  the  salt  water, 
and  when  it  was  out,  raking  away  the  ashy  crust  found 
clinging  to  the  embers.  A  better  and  far  easier  way  was 
ours,  for  we  now  had  the  kettles  in  which  to  do  the 
heating  and  condensing  of  the  water  into  what  we  wanted. 
In  autumn,  when  the  time  came  for  putting  aside  the  fish 
and  meat  for  the  winter,  a  large  company  would  go  from 
the  village  to  the  salt-making,  and  the  gathering  was  made 
almost  a  festival.  There  had  always  been  sufficient  force 
either  with  or  of  the  workers,  and  no  evil  had  ever  come  to 
them,  though,  at  other  times,  the  Chauci  had  once  or 
twice  invaded  the  spring  and  made  salt  there  unknown 
to  us.  They  also  possessed  a  spring,  but  it  was  not  as 
generous  of  flow  as  ours  nor  so  convenient  for  those  who 
lived  the  nearest  to  us.  There  had  been  murmurings  and 
distrust  over  this  intrusion  of  the  Chauci,  but  there  had 
followed  no  encounter,  though  the  invasion  was  in  viola 
tion  of  all  tribal  law,  and  though  we  had  often  come  in 
conflict  with  the  Chauci. 

It  has  been  a  prosperous  and  pleasant  summer  for  us, 
yet  somewhat  of  a  dull  one,  for  there  had  been  no  con 
flicts  and  the  older  warriors  were  disposed  to  grumble  at 
what  they  termed  either  indifference  to  honour  or  great 
slothfulness,  Had  not  a  band  of  the  Harudes  been  seen 


288  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

hovering  about  our  southeastern  mark,  and  had  not  there 
been  a  disappearance  of  some  scores  of  our  half -wild  cattle? 
Had  not  certain  most  promising  bee  trees  toward  the  line 
of  the  Juthungi  been  cut  down  and  despoiled,  and  was 
not  either  of  these  outrages  sufficient  to  demand  some  sort 
of  raiding  in  reprisal?  It  was  true  that  the  Juthungi  had 
their  home  some  distance  from  our  borders  and  that  we 
were  not  assured  that  our  cattle  were  taken  by  the  Har- 
udes,  but  should  such  small  lack  of  certainty  prevent  us 
from  displaying  our  hardihood  and  prevent  us  also  from 
acquiring  such  booty  as  might  come  in  our  way?  Such 
chance,  the  seasoned  veterans  declared,  would  not  have 
been  neglected  in  their  own  fine  youth.  I  know  not  why, 
but  all  this  passed  and  there  was  no  raiding,  it  may  be  be 
cause  the  dulness  of  the  year  was  somewhat  broken  by 
the  festivals  in  honor  of  the  youth  who  had  arrived  at 
the  dignity  of  fighting  men,  and  by  the  consumption  of 
much  mead  at  these  same  festivals.  A  serious  occasion, 
albeit  an  auspicious  and  a  pleasant  one,  it  was  when  the 
youth  became  of  age  to  be  counted  among  young  warriors. 
This  year  there  was  near  a  score  to  be  thus  exalted,  which 
gift  of  many  was  counted  good  as  making  the  families 
stronger.  The  youth  were  trained  in  warlike  exercises, 
and  happy  the  father  who  could  boast  most  sons.  They 
were  taught  a  contempt  for  death  and  that  the  tie  of  kin 
ship  was  ever  to  be  observed.  So  strong,  indeed,  was  the 
need  and  the  desire  for  kin,  that  when  one  lacked  a  family 
he  sought  blood-brotherhood  with  some  other,  and,  when 
this  was  agreed  upon,  each  would  cut  the  palm  of  the  hand 
and  let  the  blood  from  the  wound  run  into  a  little  hollow 
in  the  ground,  so  that  from  the  blood  commingled  might 


THE  HERCYNIAN  FOREST  289 

be  pledged  the  brotherhood  for  life,  to  which  they  swore 
with  clasped  hands.  Kinship  and  brotherhood  meant 
greater  strength,  and  so  it  was  not  strange  that  when  new 
youth  entered  the  elder  ranks  there  was  rejoicing  and  much 
ceremony  in  the  bestowal  of  arms,  and  afterward  much 
feasting.  So  it  chanced  that  in  this  year  of  which  I 
speak,  with  many  youth  to  be  initiated,  the  ceremony 
over  one  almost  overlapped  that  of  another,  and  that 
most  of  the  warriors,  drinking  deeply  and  boasting  of 
fights  which  had  been  and  would  be,  were  somewhat 
careless  of  the  present.  I  know  only  that  we  had  been  at 
peace  for  all  the  summer,  and  that,  though  I  had  found 
good  hunting  and  had  fortune  in  the  finding  and  marking 
of  bee  trees,  I  had  myself  a  sense  that  time  was  beginning 
to  move  with  somewhat  laggard  feet.  Moreover,  there 
were  certain  weapons  which  I  desired  renewed  for  my 
equipment  and  which  I  could  not  get  within  the  tribe. 
Yet  I  held  my  peace  in  the  debates,  well  knowing  that 
after  the  initiation  of  the  various  youth  the  warrior  would 
be  restless. 

It  is  of  these  same  youth  that  there  is  something  curi 
ous  to  tell,  a  thing  beginning  in  mere  love  of  the  young 
for  any  wild  performance  and  the  doing  of  that  which  the 
elders  might  look  upon  as  childish  or  unmanly,  but  which 
here  had,  in  the  end,  a  great  result.  I  have  said  that  we 
had  horses  as  well  as  horned  cattle,  but  the  horses,  like 
the  cattle,  were  for  food,  and  were  rarely  mounted,  since 
the  forest  was  scarce  the  place  in  which  they  might  be 
used  with  freedom.  It  was  counted  almost  effeminate  in 
a  man  to  ride  when  his  strong  legs  should  be  equal  to  any 
journey.  The  youth  took  small  account  of  this;  lightly 


290  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

they  held  to  elder  views,  and  so  a  company  of  some  score 
or  more  of  them  had  contrived  to  capture  and  tame  to 
riding  a  number  of  horses,  performing  some  fine  exploits 
with  them  in  a  broad  clearing  at  a  safe  distance  from  the 
village  and  from  all  surveillance.  They  rode  well,  guid 
ing  the  horses  with  their  thonged  bridles  and  flourishing 
their  long  spears,  as  they  had  heard  did  the  horsemen  of 
the  Gauls,  and  I,  who,  because  I  had  no  family  of  my  own, 
was  somewhat  of  a  friend  and,  it  may  be,  a  too  lenient 
mentor  to  them,  felt  a  certain  pride  in  their  performance 
and  had  no  notion  of  betraying  them.  Indeed,  I  felt  that 
I  somewhat  aided  and  abetted  them,  and  of  this  last  I 
had  no  regret. 

So  drifted  we  up  to  the  time  of  the  first  falling  of  the 
leaves.  The  days  passed  and  the  autumn  grew  and  the 
hunters  were  out  and  the  boatmen  were  on  the  rivers,  fish 
ing  them  even  to  the  coast  with  their  nets  of  woven  marsh 
grass,  and  soon  we  would  have  great  store  of  meat  and 
fish  for  storing.  It  was  time  for  the  yearly  salt-making, 
so  a  small  company  of  the  youth  were  sent  ahead  to  the 
spring  by  the  marshes  to  prepare  for  the  coming  of  such 
older  ones  as  should  direct  the  boiling  and  other  labour 
to  be  done.  All  were  engaged  in  the  preparation,  and  the 
band  departed  shoutingly  at  dawn,  for  to  the  spring  it 
was  a  full  half  day's  journey. 

That  night  the  hunters  came  from  the  chase  vaunting 
and  heavy  laden,  for  they  had  met  with  great  good  for 
tune,  having  surrounded  and  slain  an  aurochs  of  huge 
size,  so  adding  at  once  no  little  meat  for  the  salting.  Never 
was  clan  in  better  mood  than  was  ours  on  that  night  of 
much  eating  and  drinking  by  the  tired  though  noisy 


THE  HERCYNIAN  FOREST  291 

hunters.  Well  into  the  night  the  revelry  continued,  when 
there  came  that  which  changed  the  nature  of  the  f casters. 
There  were  short,  dull  cries  from  the  outside,  and  then 
staggered  into  hall  two  of  the  youth  who  had  gone  with  the 
little  company  to  the  salt  spring.  One  was  bloody  of 
head  and  face,  and  each  was,  at  first,  too  scant  of  breath 
to  tell  his  tale.  It  soon  came,  however,  and  was  such  as 
to  make  each  warrior  seize  upon  and  brandish  aloft  his 
weapons  and  swear  an  oath  as  to  what  would  be  the  deadly 
happenings  of  the  morrow ! 

The  Chauci  had  seized  upon  our  salt  spring,  defying 
us  at  last,  and  had  done  the  deed  most  cruelly.  Scarce 
had  the  youth  reached  the  spring  and  begun  the  cleaning 
of  the  boiling-shed  from  its  bed  of  drifted  leaves,  and  to 
make  ready  the  places  for  the  fires,  when  there  appeared 
from  the  nearby  wood  a  band  of  Chauci  who  rushed  upon 
them,  casting  their  spears  and  chasing  swiftly  with  their 
other  weapons.  The  youth,  brave  enough  but  far  out 
numbered,  fled  into  the  marsh  and  across  the  neck  of  it 
and  so  gained  refuge  in  the  forest  at  a  point  some  distance 
from  the  spring,  but  not  before  two  had  been  slain. 
Hardly  had  they  reached  the  forest's  edge  when  they  saw 
a  larger  force  come  from  the  wood  and  join  the  first  band 
of  Chauci  at  the  spring.  Of  these  the  two  youth  judged 
there  were  at  least  three  hundred.  The  fugitives  had 
fled  straightway  homeward,  and  deemed  that  the  others 
who  had  escaped  should  soon  be  with  us,  though  of  this 
they  were  not  fully  assured,  since  they  had  scattered 
themselves  for  safety's  sake,  and  it  was  possible  that  the 
Chauci  might  have  pursued  and  captured  or  slain  more 
of  them.  Happily  this  was  not  so.  The  remaining  fugi- 


292  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

lives  came  in  before  the  morning  broke,  all  wearied  from 
the  long  run  and  the  hiding,  and  three  of  them  wounded 
by  the  thrown  lances. 

There  was  no  more  wassail,  but,  in  its  stead,  swift  and 
stern  preparation  for  what  was  soon  to  come.  We  of  the 
elder  warriors  spent  little  time  in  council  or  the  devising 
of  any  plan,  for  we  knew  that  it  could  be  only  a  stubborn 
grapple  of  almost  equal  forces,  with  no  advantage  of  am 
bush  or  surprise  to  either  side.  We  could  rally  as  many  of 
our  clan  as  there  were  of  the  invading  Chauci,  and  for  more 
we  cared  not.  We  would  ask  no  aid  from  other  villages 
of  the  Cherusci,  though,  should  we  be  beaten  in  the  fight, 
there  would  doubtless  follow  a  war  between  the  whole 
tribes,  for  blood  is  thick  and  the  Chauci  had  now  been 
transgressors  boldly;  but,  should  we  win,  the  matter 
would  doubtless  end  with  that,  since  we  would  have  had 
our  vengeance  and,  perchance,  some  booty  with  it.  There 
were  some  who  counselled  marching  at  once  upon  our 
foes,  but  it  was  decided  by  those  among  us  who  had  the 
leadership  that  the  attack  should  be  made  in  daylight, 
and  so  it  rested.  All  night,  all  through  the  village  could 
be  heard  the  sounds  of  the  sharpening  of  swords  and 
spears  and  axes,  and  the  pattering  of  hammers  studding 
and  fastening  more  securely  the  leather  on  the  linden 
shields.  The  sun  had  scarcely  risen  before  we  had  eaten 
and  were  set  out  on  our  grim  march.  No  able  man  in 
the  village  but  was  of  that  avenging  company,  save  some 
score  of  the  riding  youth  of  whom  I  have  already  told  and 
who,  because  I  spoke  for  them,  were  allowed  to  march 
apart,  that  they  might,  as  their  leader  pleaded,  come  in 
upon  the  Chauci  from  an  unexpected  side  and  by  their 


THE  HERCYNIAN  FOREST  293 

sudden  charge  do  more,  if  might  be,  than  if  they  marched 
and  fought  with  all  the  rest.  At  first  this  was  denied 
them,  but  I  had  some  dim  reasoning  that  these  reckless 
ones  had  in  mind  what  might  avail  exceedingly,  and  my 
earnest  counsel  and  demand  that  they  be  given  the  chance 
to  show  us  what  stuff  for  warriors  was  within  them  at 
last  prevailed. 

No  sign  of  the  Chauci  saw  we  until  we  came  close  upon 
what  we  knew  must  be  the  battlefield.  They  were  not 
ranged  about  the  spring,  but  were  massed,  as  I  had  rea 
soned  well  they  would  be,  in  the  thick  wood  near  to  it, 
where  they  would  have  some  measure  of  protection  and 
where  we  must  attack  them  at  a  disadvantage,  for  the  wood 
there,  though  dense  and  heavy,  was  apart  from  the  main 
forest,  and  could  be  reached  only  by  passing  across  a  wide 
open  space  where  we  would  be  exposed  to  their  spear- 
throwing  and  their  arrow  flights.  Nevertheless  we  drew 
together,  holding  our  shields  before  us  and  so  launched 
ourselves  across  the  open  space. 

It  was  a  grim  and  furious  charge  and  no  man  failed,  but 
our  foe  had  the  advantage.  We  gained  the  forest's  edge, 
but  our  spears  and  arrows  were  turned  aside  by  the  close- 
set  trees  and  brush,  while  upon  us  in  the  open  rained  such 
flight  of  weapons  as  could  not  be  avoided  or  long  with 
stood,  and  not  a  few  of  the  Cherusci  fell.  We  had  suffered 
grievously  when,  with  a  blind  and  desperate  rush,  we  en 
tered  the  wood  fairly  and  there,  though  engaged  now  on 
more  even  terms,  found  little  better  fortune.  The  Chauci, 
well  knowing  what  must  follow  their  defeat,  fought  like 
savage  beasts  at  bay,  and  most  skilfully  as  well,  keeping 
together  and  meeting  us  with  stroke  and  thrust  as  heavy 


294  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

and  in  a  rage  as  fearful  as  our  own.  Back  and  forth  we 
swung  together  in  that  dark  killing-place,  and,  for  a  time, 
even  the  shouting  and  the  threatening  ceased  and  there 
was  only  the  harsh  sound  of  weapons.  We  fought  un 
flinching,  as  Cherusci  should,  but  were  the  more  wearied 
of  the  two  forces,  for  we  had  marched  far,  and  had  now 
lost  some  of  our  best  warriors  and,  finally,  there  came  a 
little  yielding.  Strive  hardly  as  we  might,  it  did  not 
cease,  and  soon,  though  with  our  mass  unbroken,  we 
were  forced  into  the  field  again,  the  Chauci  pressing 
fiercely  with  yells  of  triumph,  until  they,  too,  were  in  the 
open.  Then  followed  such  fighting  as  had  not  been  often 
seen  or  had  been  told  of  in  the  feast  hall! 

Face  to  face,  we  stood  in  opposing  ranks,  Cherusci 
against  Chauci,  and  no  man  thought  of  aught  save  killing. 
We  were  now  the  lesser  force,  but  none  gave  that  a  thought. 
There  were  the  Chauci,  and  they  must  be  slain!  As  for 
me,  I  had  gone  stark  mad  with  the  battle  lust.  Man 
after  man  went  down  and  another  took  his  place,  but  we 
had  the  lesser  weight,  they  were  as  desperate  as  we,  and 
we  were  driven  back,  though  slowly.  Then  came  the 
sudden  and  amazing  end ! 

From  the  main  forest  on  one  side  rang  out  a  shouting 
almost  boyish,  and  then  from  that  green  wood  burst 
forth  a  score  of  beardless  horsemen!  The  ground  was 
somewhat  sloping,  there  was  room  for  headway,  and, 
sweeping  down  in  a  mass  together,  the  young  spearmen 
burst  in  upon  and  through  the  Chauci,  as  though  they 
were  but  corn!  Never  before  in  forest  fray  had  been 
such  hurling  of  ridden  horses  upon  footmen.  What 
could  withstand  such  charge  of  thundering  beast,  or  the 


THE  HERCYNIAN  FOREST  295 

bent  spears,  of  which  none  failed  to  reach  its  man! 
Crumpled  and  split  apart  and  scattered  were  the  Chauci 
by  that  fierce  onslaught,  and  we,  the  warriors,  leaped  after 
them  and  slew  them  as  they  fled,  pursuing  them  into  the 
forest  ways  which  led  toward  their  home  and  overtaking 
many.  Well  had  the  youth  displayed  their  warrior  blood, 
and,  more  than  that,  had  taught  us  much.  Henceforth 
the  horse  would  be  exalted. 

Foremost  and  swift  was  I  in  the  grim  pursuit,  and  over 
took  three  of  the  fleeing  Chauci  in  a  little  glade,  when 
they  turned  to  face  me.  It  was  a  fight  of  but  a  moment. 
My  axe  descended  on  the  one  who  seemed  to  be  the  leader, 
and  then  came  to  me  what  was  beyond  all  evil  dreaming! 
Even  as  my  axe  sank  into  the  Chauci's  head  one  of  the 
others,  who  had  darted  aside  as  I  made  my  rush,  swung 
his  long  sword  behind  me  foully  and  I  tottered  and  fell 
crumplingly  to  earth  there,  hamstrung  and  helpless  and  a 
lost  man  forever!  What  mattered  it  that  one  who  came 
panting  behind  me  cut  down  the  knave  who  had  crippled 
me?  What  more  had  life ! 

The  pursuit  by  our  warriors  ended  at  last ;  they  gathered 
together  the  weapons  of  the  slain  Chauci  and  all  the  spoil 
of  their  camp,  and,  afterward,  made  a  litter  in  which  they 
carried  me,  as  they  did  the  others  who  could  not  walk. 
The  march  wound  to  the  village,  which  was  reached  at 
nightfall.  Most  carefully  was  I  attended.  Loud  had 
been  the  acclamation  of  me  as  foremost  in  the  battle,  and 
my  leg  was  shrewdly  bound,  as  was  also  a  little  wound  in 
my  left  arm,  which,  before,  had  bled  most  steadily.  After 
ward  I  was  placed  upon  a  couch  of  furs  in  the  feast  hall, 
where  presently  would  be  held  the  feast  in  celebration  of 


296  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

our  victory.  Sadly  and  sullenly  I  lay.  Then  came  to  me 
a  wondrous  resolution!  There  came  before  my  eyes  a 
vision  of  one  helpless  and  crawling.  Where  were  now  the 
battle  and  the  chase  and  the  fair  hunting  of  the  bee 
stores!  What  gray  ness  lay  before  me!  WThat  held  life 
for  me  now,  for  me  who  in  the  morning  had  been  at  the 
crest  of  strength  and  pride  and  who  had  hewn  my  way  to 
greater  honour  through  a  warrior's  day!  Wliat  pitiful 
old  age  might  come  to  Scar,  the  hamstrung!  Yet,  what 
honour  comes  to  the  hero  who  dies  laughing  at  death  and 
fresh  from  where  much  blood  has  flowed?  I  thought  of 
her  who  was  wearing  my  golden  armlet,  sleeping  quietly, 
and  life  seemed  hollow  at  the  best !  I  thought  of  the  long 
years  of  hobbling,  and  my  mind  became  as  iron,  as  my 
gorge  rose.  They  were  making  ready  for  the  feast  now 
and  I  called  my  friends  about  me  and  told  them  I  would 
feast  with  them,  and  directed  where  my  seat  should  be, 
as  I  drank  deeply  with  them  and  that  I  should  be  lifted 
to  it,  and  they  did  as  I  commanded  boisterously  and  ac- 
claimingly,  for  they  knew  well  what  I  had  in  mind,  though 
in  the  eyes  even  of  those  warriors  shone  something  of 
wonder  with  their  pride.  The  feast  began  and  the  vaunt 
ing  and  the  shouting  and  the  deep  drinking,  and  then  I 
shouted  loud,  though  I  could  not  rise,  and  bade  them  hail 
and  vaunted  of  the  brave  day.  Hoarsely  and  loudly  I 
told  them  how  I  was  about  to  die  cheerily,  as  a  warrior 
should,  before  the  eyes  of  fighting  men,  laughing  and  show 
ing  to  the  youth  the  manner  in  which  a  hero  passed  to 
Woden! 

Lifted  I  then  my  wounded  arm  and  tore  away  the  band 
age  from  where  a  goodly  vein  was  sheared  apart,  and 


THE  HERCYNIAN  FOREST  297 

opened  it  anew  with  my  dagger,  and  the  red  blood  came 
out  and  ran  with  a  soft  patter  to  the  floor  as  I  let  the  arm 
hang  low  beside  me.  Four  brimming  urus  horns  of  mead 
I  quaffed  then,  and  shouted  and  waved  the  horn  above 
me  and  sang  the  praise  of  the  Cherusci,  and  the  warriors 
shouted  with  me  and  would  have  lifted  me  aloft  but  for 
my  wounds.  More  deeply  yet  I  drank,  and  more  boasted 
of  the  glory  of  the  Cherusci,  and  still  heard  the  ceaseless 
dripping  to  the  floor.  The  mead  was  bringing  languor, 
and  it  seemed  to  me  that,  because  of  this  fine  sleepiness, 
I  spoke  less  bravely,  repeating  much,  and  stumblingly, 
the  words  I  had  said  before.  Surely,  I  thought,  a  better 
mead  was  never  brewed !  The  lights  flashed  and  the  war 
riors  shouted  over  to  me.  I  was  warm,  and  my  head 
nodded.  Great  were  we  of  the  Cherusci  and  great  the 
life  of  a  warrior!  My  head  sank  on  my  breast.  The 
whimsy  came;  we  warriors  might  be  strong,  but  assuredly 
grizzled  and  bent  old  Harling,  who  brewed  our  mead,  was 
mightiest  among  us!  I  bent  forward  prone  on  the  table, 
with  my  head  upon  my  unwounded  arm,  the  other  yet 
dangling.  Still  came  to  my  ears  the  patter  of  the  blood 
upon  the  floor.  Strong  was  the  mead ! 


CHAPTER  XIV 

ALESIA  AND  THE  END 

THAT  there  had  been  a  sea  fight  was  plain  from 
the  look  of  the  deck,  upon  which  blood  was  splashed 
about  and  gathered  in  some  places  into  little 
pools,  now  turned  to  a  dark  purple  in  the  sunlight  which 
was  shining  down  upon  it  pleasantly  enough.  Pleasant 
also  was  the  breeze  which  was  carrying  the  galley  west 
ward  without  any  aid  of  man  in  the  guiding.  Of  the  fight 
itself,  it  seemed  as  if  I  could  remember  something,  though 
but  confusedly,  for  first  it  would  appear  that  we  were 
battling  among  trees  or  in  open  ground,  and  then  again 
that  we  were  thrusting  and  striking  and  grappling  up  and 
down  a  tossing  and  slippery  deck  and  that  hoarse  shouting 
was  mingled  with  the  roar  of  a  great  wind.  Now,  there 
was  neither  much  wind  nor  any  shouting.  I  lay  with  my 
head  upon  some  sort  of  a  not  uneasy  pillow  and  looked 
upward  into  a  sky  without  a  cloud.  I  felt  a  stiffness  in 
my  limbs  and  there  was  inertness  to  me.  I  made  shift 
to  rise  to  my  knees  and  at  last  to  my  feet,  and  looked 
about  me  weakly,  and  considered.  Yes,  assuredly,  there 
had  been  a  sea  fight.  My  pillow,  the  quality  of  which 
I  had  not  noted,  showed  that,  for  it  had  been  old  Regner, 
now  lying  motionless,  who  had  borne  my  head  upon  his 
bosom  while  I  lay  senseless.  A  huge  spear,  which  had 
entered  at  the  shoulder,  protruded  from  his  side,  and  he 


ALESIA  AND  THE  END  299 

had  bled  much,  lying  there  transfixed  so  savagely.  I 
found  that  I  had  wounds  myself  and  that  there  was  a 
great  bruise  on  my  temple  which  still  somewhat  affected 
me. 

Slowly,  as  the  wind  blew  coolly  on  my  forehead,  came 
back  to  me  a  knowledge  of  what  had  been  our  evil  fortune 
and  how  it  was  that  I,  a  man  of  some  presence  among  our 
daring  company,  I,  a  Viking  of  the  Angles,  should  be 
drifting  thus  wounded  and  alone  in  mine  own  ship,  help 
less  to  guide  it.  The  crafty  Romans  had  outwitted  us  and 
we  had  not  been  spared ! 

In  our  fast  shield-ship,  not  a  very  great  one  but  swift 
upon  its  way,  we  had  been  lying  in  wait,  as  was  our  cus 
tom,  in  a  small  bay  of  the  Gallic  coast,  awaiting  the  near 
passing  of  any  vessel  which  seemed  to  offer  booty.  What 
came,  we  cared  not  greatly,  for  we  feared  no  enemy  we 
might  encounter,  though  preferring  much  some  laden 
Phoenician  trader  still  venturing  to  Britain.  In  default 
of  such  rare  prize  we  must  content  ourselves  with  a  chance 
ship  of  the  Veneti,  who  also  had  some  traffic  beyond  the 
narrow  sea. 

Proud  were  we  Vikings,  for  was  not  ours  the  blood  of 
the  bold  races  of  the  forest  who  had  swept  up  the  Elbe 
five  hundred  years  ago  and,  dividing  into  kindred  tribes, 
Jutes,  Angles,  and  Saxons,  had  seized  upon  all  Jutland  and, 
from  hunters  and  river  fishers,  had  become  most  bold  and 
skilful  sailors  and  the  most  adventurous  of  rovers  of  the 
sea?  Already  there  came  dread  to  the  dwellers  at  the 
riversides  and  all  along  the  Gallic  coast  and,  sometimes, 
even  to  the  shores  of  Britain,  when  our  shield-ships  showed 
their  sails  against  the  distant  sky.  No  ship  of  the  Gaul 


300  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

we  feared,  but  we  sought  not  acquaintance  with  the  now 
frequent  Roman  galleys,  since  they  were  prone  to  come  in 
squadrons.  Ever  we  kept  a  lookout  for  them  and  cared 
not  when  they  appeared  if  only  there  were  space  enough 
between  us,  for  we  could  outsail  them  easily.  This  was 
not  so  much  because  we  feared,  as  because  there  would 
be  but  little  spoil  to  follow  the  taking  of  a  ship  contain 
ing  only  legionaries,  and  there  was  the  further  reason 
that,  were  we  ourselves  to  be  taken,  we  would  die  at  once. 
To  the  Roman,  and  it  must  be  said  to  most  others,  we 
were  but  ravening  pirates,  ruthless  and  dangerous  as  the 
sharks  of  the  sea  or  the  wolves  of  the  land,  and  meriting 
only  death.  Little  cared  we!  We  had  but  inherited  the 
ways  of  our  ancestors  from  the  time  when  they  raided 
the  lands,  each  of  the  other,  in  the  German  wood  or  seized 
upon  the  holdings  which  seemed  good  to  them  as  they 
fought  their  way  northward  from  the  branched  sources 
of  the  Elbe  and  Weser.  Yet  we  were  never  cruel,  and 
lacked  not  loyalty  and  faithfulness  unto  death  to  friend 
and  blood  kin. 

We  were  not  as  yet  a  great  force,  we  rovers  of  the  sea, 
though  each  year  our  strength  increased.  Our  sharp- 
prowed  ships  were  swifter  than  those  of  others,  our  sails 
bore  better,  and  our  arms  were  stronger  at  the  oars  in 
failing  winds,  but  as  either  clan  or  tribe  we,  as  yet,  made 
no  great  war.  We  were  but  bold  adventurers,  each  cap 
tain  fighting  for  himself  and  his  own  following.  Of  re 
ligion  we  knew  but  Odin  and  the  strong  gods  with  him.  It 
was  so  among  each  tribe  of  us,  the  Jutes  above  us  on  the 
great  horn  of  land  called  Jutland,  we  Angles  next  and  the 
Saxons  below  and  nearer  the  restless  peoples  of  the  vast 


ALESIA  AND  THE  END  301 

forest.  The  Romans  knew  us  not  apart  and  called  all 
us  Northmen,  Saxons,  though  we  were  not  as  one  in  our 
scant  rulership,  and  sometimes  had  our  battles  over  marks. 
But  we  were  of  the  same  proud  blood  and  did  not  fight 
with  each  other  when  there  could  be  found  a  common 
enemy,  such  as  existed  now,  since  the  conquering  and  op 
pressing  Caesar  had,  in  a  great  sea  fight,  overcome  the 
fleet  of  the  Veneti,  who  were  traders  and  had  more  ships 
than  any  other  Gallic  tribe.  Afterward  the  victor  had 
built  more  ships  of  his  own  and  landed  in  Britain  and  done 
much  damage,  besides  exacting  submission  and  hostages 
from  those  nearest  the  coast.  After  this  there  still  re 
mained  a  number  of  the  Roman  ships  which  sailed  about 
the  coast  of  Gaul  but  did  not  come  into  the  northern  sea. 
These  we  avoided  though  we  still  made  forays  along  the 
Gallic  shores,  having  no  other  place  for  profitable  venture. 
With  this  Caesar,  we  of  the  upper  coast  beyond  the  Rhine 
had  made  no  war,  nor  had  he  made  war  on  us,  deeming 
us  but  barbarians  of  a  land  not  worth  the  conquering  and 
of  a  kind  only  to  be  done  away  with,  if  it  might  be,  when 
his  ships  encountered  ours  and  which  had  happened  but 
few  times,  since,  as  I  have  said,  we  avoided  all  such  meet 
ing.  Yet  no.w,  I  knew  as  my  memory  came  back,  that 
we  had  indeed  been  tricked  and  had  mingled  most  blood 
ily  with  these  same  Romans. 

We  had  been  rejoiced  when,  from  a  point  of  land  beside 
a  little  bay  we  had  discovered,  just  as  a  black  storm  threat 
ened,  a  ship  nearing  us  which,  as  the  manner  of  its  build 
ing  showed,  must  be  a  trader  of  the  Veneti,  having  broad 
sails  of  skin,  such  as  the  Veneti  used,  and  high  prows  and 
lifted  stern  and  showing  a  structure  broad  and  deep  and 


302  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

strong.  We  were  at  first  surprised,  but  considered  then 
that  Csesar  was  no  longer  harrying  the  coasts  of  the  Ve- 
neti  and  that,  since  conquering  them  and  afterward  caus 
ing  the  death  of  many,  he  had  allowed  those  remaining 
to  engage  in  all  their  avocations  as  before.  So  we  thought 
it  was  possible  that  their  traders  were  venturing  forth 
again.  Of  this  we  were  more  assured  as  the  ship  neared 
us  and  we  saw  upon  its  deck  only  the  sailors  needed  for 
its  handling  in  the  increasing  tumult  of  wind  and  sea. 
These  wore  the  Veneti  dress  and  we  could  scarce  restrain 
our  shouting.  There  would  be  little  of  good  fighting, 
but  much  plunder. 

There  were  only  some  thirty  of  us  in  our  shield-ship, 
for,  as  I  have  told,  it  was  not  a  large  one,  but  our  arms 
were  strong  and  ready  at  the  oars,  and  despite  the  thun 
dering  sky  and  now  high  rolling  waves,  we  swept  out  from 
the  bay  and  fairly  athwart  the  course  of  the  oncoming 
vessel  before  its  people  appeared  to  see  us.  Then  there 
were  loud  cries  from  them  and  a  swift  rushing  about  to 
change  their  course,  though  all  too  late.  Swiftly  we 
circled  in  beside  them  and  cast  up  our  grappling  hooks 
and,  shouting  our  hoarse  war  cry,  poured  over  the  un 
protected  bulwarks  and  upon  the  deck,  there  to  hew  down 
or  take  captive  the  weak  Veneti  crew.  Death  rose  to 
greet  us ! 

Leaping  to  their  feet,  shouting  the  Roman  battle  cry, 
a  full  hundred  armed  legionaries  who  had  lain  concealed 
upon  that  treacherous  deck  —  even  as  our  feet  touched 
wood  —  were  upon  us  with  cast  javelins  and  spear  and 
sword.  We  were  lost  in  the  mass  of  them,  each  one  of 
us  surrounded  and  defending  himself  against  too  many. 


ALESIA  AND  THE  END  303 

It  was  a  bloody  fight  for  but  a  little  time,  and  only  that 
the  storm  waxed  fiercer  and  all  footing  was  uncertain, 
we  would  have  all  been  slain  the  sooner.  There  was  no 
quarter  to  be  hoped  for.  I  felt  sharp  wounds  before  I 
reached  the  deck,  and  sprang  backward  against  the  bul 
wark  that  I  might  face  the  onrush  to  better  vantage. 
They  came  in  upon  me  so  swiftly  and  so  closely  that  I 
slew  two  with  my  axe  and  then  I  felt  a  spear  point  lightly, 
and  sprang  apart  from  it  and  upward,  clutching,  as  I 
leaped,  the  ropes  slanting  from  mast  to  side,  and  so  stood 
with  my  feet  upon  the  bulwark,  holding  with  one  hand  to 
the  cordage  and  smiting  downward  with  my  axe  once 
more.  I  turned  to  our  ship  and,  even  as  I  turned,  it  was 
lifted  upward  to  me  by  the  raging  sea,  then  outward,  and 
I  heard  the  grappling  hooks  tear  harshly  away  through 
the  oak  rail.  And  in  that  swift  moment,  even  as  I  leaped, 
a  stone  cast  by  a  slinger  struck  my  head  and  at  once  I 
knew  no  more. 

And  now,  after  how  many  hours  I  could  not  tell,  I 
stood  clinging  to  the  mast  that  I  might  keep  my  feet  and 
making  study  of  the  body  of  stark  Regner.  He  alone  had 
been  left  on  guard.aboard  our  ship  when  we  cast  the  grap 
pling  hooks?  and  it  was  easy  to  see  that  he  had  been  slain 
by  a  spear  thrown  vengef ully  from  above,  as  was  revealed 
in  the  manner  of  his  transfixion.  Surely  slight  suffering 
had  come  to  Regner,  and  little  had  he  felt  the  shock  when 
I  had  come  down  upon  him,  and  the  storm  tore  our  ship 
away  from  our  enemies  and  hid  us  in  the  bosom  of  its 
darkness.  Certainly  bold  and  careless,  though  very  silent, 
sailors  had  been  we  two  as  the  waves  tossed  us,  and 
my  wonder  was  that  we  were  yet  aboard  and  the  ship 


304  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

afloat  unharmed.  It  was  well  built  and  strong,  however, 
and  no  sail  had  been  up  when  we  made  our  attack,  and 
so,  somehow,  and  by  sheerest  fortune,  it  had  floated  until 
the  storm  subsided  and  we  were  now  riding  on  smooth 
waters.  And  now  I  looked  all  round  and  away  upon  the 
sea  more  searchingly.  To  the  westward  I  perceived  a 
dim  uplifting,  darker  than  the  hue  of  the  water,  and,  as 
the  breeze  carried  the  ship  forward,  this  dimness  became 
more  solid  and  it  was  made  plain  that  it  was  land.  Well 
did  I  comprehend  its  meaning.  I,  alone  and  wounded 
and  in  one  of  the  hated  Viking  ships,  was  drifting  help 
lessly  upon  the  shore  of  Britain.  My  death,  it  might  be, 
had  been  delayed  for  only  a  little  time,  but  what  of  that? 
Death  was  the  Viking's  brother.  A  weakness  was  coming 
upon  me  and  I  slid  downward  to  the  deck  and  slept. 

When  I  awakened  something  of  my  strength  had  come 
back  to  me,  though  not  that  of  a  strong  man,  for  my  head 
had  been  hurt  most  evilly.  Yet  now  I  could  rise  by  the 
mast  again  and  look  more  calmly  and  resolutely  upon  the 
land  I  was  approaching  and  which  now  rose  clearly  to  my 
sight,  and  not  more  than  an  hour's  passage,  at  the  rate 
the  vessel  was  now  drifting. 

Now  it  chanced  that  I  knew  more  than  a  little  of  this 
strange  isle  of  Britain.  For  years  I  had  been  in  almost 
daily  speech  with  a  British  slave  named  Locrin,  now  an 
old  man  and  under  my  protection.  He  had  been  captured 
long  ago  when  fishing  with  companions  in  one*  of  their 
curious  open  coracles  of  skin,  or  currachs  as  they  were 
sometimes  called,  and  had  in  time  become  almost  an  Angle, 
for  he  had  been  treated  kindly  under  the  roof  tree  of  my 
own  family  and  clan.  Him  I  had,  as  I  grew  in  years,  been 


ALESIA  AND  THE  END  305 

accustomed  to  take  with  me  in  my  hunting,  and  some 
times  on  expeditions,  and  from  him  had  I  learned  not 
only  the  manner  of  life  of  the  Britons,  how  they  fought 
their  enemies,  the  raiding  Caledonians  which  sometimes 
came  from  the  north,  and  other  like  things,  and  had  also 
gained  from  him  some  knowledge  of  his  language.  This 
I  had  used  with  him  in  sport,  with  the  idle  thought  that 
it  might  some  day  become  of  use  to  me  in  my  adventures. 
He  had  become  a  most  faithful  thrall  and  I,  in  turn,  had 
learned  to  hold  him  somewhat  closely.  It  was  ever  said 
of  the  Briton  that  as  a  clansman  he  was  most  loyal  to 
his  chieftain.  Glad  was  I  now,  in  a  somewhat  sombre 
way,  that  I  knew  something  of  this  wild  isle  toward  which 
I  was  being  carried  and  of  the  people  whom  I  must  meet. 
How  I  might  be  received  I  could  but  guess,  yet  I  knew 
well  that  it  would  most  likely  be  as  the  wild  beast  caught 
prowling.  Slight  reason  had  the  Britons  to  welcome  with 
extended  arms  the  Viking  stranger.  Who  welcomes  the 
plunderer,  even  though  the  plunderer  be  shorn  of  strength, 
and  helpless?  Assuredly,  my  thoughts  were  gloomy  as  I 
drifted. 

Very  slowly  lapped  the  waves  against  the  galley's  prow, 
and  the  wind  which  carried  it  ahead  seemed  to  adjust 
itself  most  nicely  to  its  doubtful  mission.  I  stood  with 
my  back  still  against  the  mast,  as  needs  I  must,  and  saw 
nearing  me  each  moment  a  prospect  which  was  not  un- 
pleasing  in  itself.  Fair  were  the  Kentish  shores  of  which 
old  Locrin  had  often  told  me,  and  fair  her  woods,  whatever 
of  danger  for  me  might  lie  concealed  within  them.  The 
shore  itself  was  a  bright  sandy  beach  up  which  the  gentle 
surge  rolled  far,  and  beyond  that  was  a  stretch  of  sward 


306  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

and  bush  soon  lost  in  a  wood  as  dense  and  green  and  heavy 
as  I  had  ever  looked  upon.  Of  human  beings  there  were 
none  in  sight  nor  was  there  any  other  sign  of  life,  though 
far  away  in  the  forest  I  could  discern  the  rise  of  smoke. 
What  might  that  forest  hold,  I  dimly  thought,  to  fix  my 
fate  or  fortune? 

The  tide  seemed  with  the  wind,  and  my  sailless  ship  was 
nearing  the  shore  so  steadily  that  soon  it  must  ground  it 
self  upon  the  pleasant  beach  in  water  so  shallow  doubtless 
that  I  might  make  shift  to  wade  ashore,  if  strong  enough. 
Still  stood  I  leaning  against  the  mast  and  scanning  the 
long  wood  narrowly.  Then,  suddenly,  my  gaze  was  fixed. 

From  around  a  point  where  the  forest  extended  far 
down  toward  the  beach,  swung  into  view  a  chariot  such 
as  I  had  never  seen,  its  galloping  horses  deftly  driven 
by  a  swart  skin-clad  man  wearing  a  sort  of  helmet  and 
what  appeared  to  be  a  breastplate.  Behind  him,  resting 
one  hand  upon  his  shoulder  and  swaying  easily  with  the 
chariot's  movements,  stood  the  stateliest  and  fairest 
woman  my  eyes  had  ever  rested  on.  Behind  the  chariot 
followed,  running  close  and  easily  as  if  accustomed  to  it, 
some  score  of  guardsmen,  a  few  with  shields  and  spears,  the 
rest  all  armed  with  bows.  So,  for  a  moment's  space  they 
came,  then  saw  the  ship  and  made  instant  halt,  the  horses 
pulled  backward  on  their  haunches  and  the  whole  com 
pany  closing  up  at  once  about  the  chariot.  What  marvel 
that  these  Britons  swerved?  A  Viking  ship  upon  their 
very  shore! 

The  company  did  not  flee,  but  stood  and  looked,  the 
woman  still  in  her  place  and  gazing  long,  with  one  hand 
raised  above  her  eyes  to  aid  the  scrutiny.  Some  time  she 


ALESIA  AND  THE  END  307 

studied,  then  seemingly  gave  an  order,  and  the  chariot 
was  driven  forward,  though  more  slowly  now  and  followed 
by  its  company.  My  ship  had  come,  by  this,  close  to 
the  land  and  must  find  ground  in  a  moment,  which  it  did 
just  as  the  Britons  drew  up  opposite  and  not  more  than 
a  spear's  length  or  two  away.  They  looked  upon  me 
silently,  the  woman,  upon  whom  the  others  seemed  to 
wait,  most  curiously  and  gravely.  At  last  she  spoke, 
and  her  words  were  brief  enough:  "Viking,  what  do  you 
here?" 

Glad  was  I  then  that  from  old  Locrin  I  had  gained  some 
knowledge  of  the  Briton  tongue  and  could  make  some 
little  shift  at  speaking  it,  albeit  most  stutteringly,  for  now 
it  might  stand  me  in  some  saving  stead.  What  should 
I  answer? 

A  little  I  paused  and  debated  in  my  mind  and  then, 
looking  into  the  clear  and  questioning  eyes  of  that  proud 
woman  in  the  chariot,  I  did  not  hesitate  nor  falter.  Stam- 
meringly  and  haltingly,  I  told  my  tale  as  best  I  could  in 
the  strange  tongue,  with  bold  and  simple  truthfulness, 
concealing  nothing.  I  told  of  my  own  name  and  stand 
ing  and  of  the  foray  and  the  sea  fight  and  of  all  that 
might  concern  my  captors.  The  men  stood  listening  with 
mouths  agape,  though  with  stern  and  threatening  faces, 
but  the  fair  countenance  of  the  woman  did  not  alter.  I 
knew  that  she  was  passing  judgment.  At  last  she  spoke 
again,  slowly  and  thoughtfully: 

"Viking  and  wolves  are  much  the  same  to  Britons,  but 
it  may  be  that  your  tale  is  true,  and  it  is  not  without  merit 
in  you  that  you  have  fought  the  Roman.  Other  than  I 
must  pass  upon  your  fate." 


308  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

Then,  turning  to  her  people,  she  commanded  that  I 
and  the  body  of  dead  Regner  be  brought  to  shore,  which 
the  spearmen  did,  supporting  me,  who  found  myself 
still  weak,  and  laying  the  body  of  my  comrade  upon  the 
sand.  Then,  without  further  parley,  and  under  direction 
of  the  woman,  the  band  returned  the  way  whence  it  had 
come,  I  walking  with  a  supporting  spearman  on  either 
side.  We  reached  the  point  from  which  the  company 
had  first  appeared  and  there  came  upon  a  roadway  lead 
ing  into  the  forest.  Upon  this  roadway  we  travelled  it 
may  be  half  a  league  when  we  reached  a  crossroad,  and 
there  we  came  to  a  halt. 

"Take  him  to  where  the  king  is  sitting,"  said  the  woman 
then,  to  those  about  me,  "and  say  to  King  Cadwallon 
that  I  will  follow  swiftly,  that  I  may  make  all  clear  to  him 
relating  to  the  prisoner." 

Then  she  looked  upon  me  fixedly,  but  saying  nothing, 
as  I  also  looked  upon  her  most  steadfastly  and  as  I  had 
never  before  looked  upon  the  face  or  into  the  eyes  of 
woman.  There  came  to  me  a  marvellous  understand 
ing. 

There  were,  among  the  race  of  Vikings,  poets  who  made 
the  Sagas  and  had  gifts  in  the  divination  of  what  was 
most  fair  and  noble  and  beyond  all  common  things  or 
hopes  or  fears,  and  from  one  of  these  had  come  the  curi 
ous  and  lofty  affirmation  that  it  might  happen,  though 
most  rarely  in  the  world,  that  a  man  and  woman  should 
for  the  first  time  look  upon  each  other  and  that  there 
should  come  to  each  the  vast  knowledge  that  they  two  were 
but  as  one  in  a  loving  which  could  not  be  in  any  way 
withstood  or  denied,  calling  for  any  sacrifice.  And  so  it 


ALESIA  AND  THE  END  309 

was !  Well  I  know  it  to  be  unbelievable,  but,  as  we  stood 
there  thus,  she  a  haughty  princess  of  the  haughty  Iceni, 
as  I  came  to  know,  and  I,  a  Viking  haughty  as  she,  but 
rude  and  rough  of  port  and  now  blood-stained  and  grimy, 
the  truth  of  the  thing  so  strange  came  out  like  light  be 
tween  us.  Each  knew  it  well  and  each  accepted  it  un 
falteringly,  for  we  were  made  of  such  a  mould.  No  loftier 
or  more  courageous  was  I  in  my  degree  than  my  fair  and 
stately  Goneril.  We  spoke  no  word,  but,  as  we  parted 
at  the  cross-road  and  her  chariot  swept  away,  I  knew  that 
beyond  all  doubting  I  should  find  her  with  King  Cad- 
wallon  and  that  she  would  have  already  spoken. 

Two  days  we  travelled  through  the  land  of  Kent,  and 
each  day  brought  me  greater  wisdom.  Let  none  say  that 
the  country  of  the  Britons  is  but  a  vast  waste  of  forest, 
moor  and  fen,  peopled  only  by  wild  beasts  and  tribes  of 
men  almost  as  wild  as  they.  So  had  I  thought  it  and  so 
had  those  on  the  mainland,  deeming  only  that  along  the 
island's  coast  there  might  exist  among  the  natives  a  vari 
ance  from  the  barbaric  and  outlandish  customs  of  the 
interior.  On  this  same  winding  journey  —  for  we  sought 
the  easier  ways  and  made  no  haste  —  I  saw  herds  of  feed 
ing  cattle  and  droves  of  horses,  and  meadows  and  reaped 
fields,  and  many  a  rude  but  goodly  homestead.  Never 
had  my  eyes  met  fairer  prospect  than  that  on  which  they 
rested  in  this  region  lately  ravished  by  the.Roman,  and  I 
wondered  not  that  its  people  had  defended  it  as  fiercely 
as  they  had  vainly.  My  bent  was  all  with  them.  My 
guard  of  ten  sturdy  spearmen,  somewhat  glum  in  the  be 
ginning,  became  amenable  upon  the  way,  and  from  their 
leader,  himself  a  Kentish  spearman  and  having  some  little 


310  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

wisdom,  I  learned  that  which  gave  me  cause  for  wonder 
and  hard  reflection.  We  were  marching  through  a  bruised 
and  smarting  region,  one  where  the  souls  of  men  were 
seething  in  unavailing  rage  and  bitter  protest.  Caesar  had 
come  and  gone.  He  had  not  advanced  far  into  the  coun 
try  but  he  had  slain  many  of  the  islanders  and  ravaged 
the  fields  and,  having  driven  the  Britons  into  their  forest 
fastnesses,  had  forced  from  their  chieftains  a  promise  of 
submission,  and  had  taken  hostages  away  with  him.  No 
harm  had  the  Britons  done  the  Romans  before  this  harsh 
invasion.  Little  they  knew  of  Roman  intrigues  and  am 
bitions,  nor  of  this  Caesar's  wars  and  conquests.  They 
were  content  to  live  alone  in  their  own  way  upon  their 
own  green  island.  Yet  to  them,  unheeding  and  unsus 
pecting,  had  come  this  scourge,  without  a  pretext. 
There  seemed  no  recourse  and  no  vengeance  for  them. 
They  had  been  smitten,  and  their  hostages  were  with  the 
Roman  army.  What  wonder  that  there  smouldered  in 
the  breasts  of  these  hurt  islanders  such  hatred  and  such 
fear  as  may  not  be  described !  All  this  I  gained  from  what 
the  Kentish  spearman  told,  and  it  was  not  in  me  to  feel 
unlike  the  islanders.  Truly  they  had  sufficient  cause  for 
hatred  of  the  Romans ! 

I  asked  the  spearman  concerning  Cadwallon,  the  king, 
and  learned  still  more.  He,  it  seemed,  was  not  the  king  in 
straight  descent,  but  because  King  Lud,  who  had  reigned 
before  him,  had  left  only  children  as  heirs,  he  had  come 
into  power  as  regent,  seemingly,  but  really  as  king  in  fact. 
Cadwallon,  as  the  Britons  called  him,  and  as  I  also  shall, 
though  he  was  called  Cassivelaunus  by  the  Romans,  was  not 
altogether  a  bad  king,  but  was  held  somewhat  weak  at  times 


ALESIA  AND  THE  END  311 

and  he  had,  besides,  certain  enemies  among  the  more  en 
vious  and  ambitious  of  the  chiefs  beneath  him.  Fortu 
nately,  the  invasion  of  Csesar  had  not  reached  his  capital 
on  the  river  called  the  Thames,  and  he  was  still  secure  in 
power.  This  capital  was  a  place  called  London  by  its 
people  and  by  all  other  Britons,  though  the  Romans  had 
named  it  Trinovantum,  and  was  the  town  of  chief  im 
portance  in  the  land,  having  existed  long  and,  being  a 
port,  reached  from  the  sea  and  drawing  the  trade  of  the 
Veneti  as  well  as,  sometimes,  of  the  far-trading  Phoeni 
cians  who  came  to  the  southwest,  the  Cassiterides,  for 
tin,  and  who  sometimes  extended  their  bartering  voyages 
up  the  coast.  Much  pride  had  the  Britons  in  their  town 
of  London,  of  which  the  legend  ran  among  their  Druid 
priests  —  some  of  whom  were  learned  —  that  it  was 
founded  in  the  dim  past  by  a  Trojan  chieftain  who,  fleeing 
after  the  fall  of  ancient  Troy,  had  sailed  with  his  people 
even  to  distant  Britain  and,  after  overcoming  a  race  of 
giants  living  there,  had  builded  this  town  beside  the 
Thames  and  named  it  Troy  Novant.  This  tale,  however, 
I  hold  to  be  a  fable.  The  Druids  were  ever  liars. 

From  this  man,  too,  I  learned  much  concerning  the 
stately  lady  of  whom  I  was  the  captive,  and  who  had  given 
order  as  to  my  disposal.  She  was  the  great  Lady  Goneril, 
he  said,  a  princess  of  the  Iceni  and  kinswoman  of  King 
Cadwallon.  There  had  been  trouble  among  the  Iceni  as 
to  the  succession,  and  at  this  time  the  family  opposed  to 
that  of  Goneril  was  somewhat  in  the  ascendancy  and  it 
were  better  in  many  ways  that  the  princess  should  seek 
refuge,  for  the  time  at  least,  at  the  court  of  her  kinsman. 
An  aunt  she  had  also,  wife  of  a  chieftain  of  Kent  with 


312  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

whom  she  was  but  now  a  guest.  Only  brave  words  had 
the  man  of  Kent  for  the  fair  princess,  and,  even  now,  my 
heart  went  out  to  him  because  of  it.  Most  imperious  of 
mood  she  sometimes  was,  he  said,  and  of  great  influence 
with  both  the  king  and  her  uncle  in  Kent,  but  ever  gener 
ous  and  just,  and  much  beloved  of  all,  from  chieftain 
down  to  churl,  Iceni  though  she  might  be.  All  of  this 
much  delighted  me  and  gave  pride.  Most  curious,  yet  just 
and  due  it  is,  that  a  man  should  cherish,  even  as  his  own, 
the  honour  and  fame  of  the  one  woman  to  him. 

On  the  morning  of  the  third  day  we  had  news  of  King 
Cadwallon  that  he  was  hunting  with  a  company  of  his 
nobles  and  attendants  in  a  forest  not  very  far  southwest- 
ward  of  his  capital,  and  to  this  place  we  took  our  course, 
the  Kentish  man  who  led  being  well  acquainted  with  the 
region  and  all  its  devious  wood-paths.  It  was  not  long 
before  we  neared  the  forest  where  the  hunt  was,  a  region 
where  the  guide  told  me  were  many  stags  and  not  a  few 
of  the  brown  bear,  and  soon  we  came  upon  parties  of  the 
huntsmen,  who  gazed  upon  me  curiously  but  who  did  not 
molest  us  but  gave  instruction  as  to  where  to  look  for  the 
king.  It  was  mid-afternoon  when  we  came  to  where  he 
had  paused  for  rest  and  meat  after  the  long  chase  of  the 
morning. 

There  were  many  tents  pitched  in  a  pleasant  glade  in 
the  midst  of  the  forest,  one  of  them  a  pavilion  larger  than 
the  others,  and  this  was  the  king's.  We  were  halted  by 
guards  with  spears  scattered  in  a  ring  about  the  brief 
camping  place,  who,  after  our  leader  had  told  his  mission, 
sent  one  with  him  to  the  king's  tent,  and  kept  the  re 
mainder  of  us  with  them.  It  was  not  long  before  the 


ALESIA  AND  THE  END  313 

Kentish  man  returned  and  said  that  I  was  to  go  with  him 
at  once.  He  took  me  to  the  guard  at  the  door  of  the 
great  tent,  and  by  this  guard  I  was  taken  within  and  so 
before  the  king. 

There  were  a  goodly  company  assembled  there  of  chiefs 
and  nobles  and  fair  and  stately  ladies  who  had  taken  their 
dinner  with  the  king  and  now  were  moving  around  and 
talking  together,  but  who,  as  I  was  brought  in,  ceased  in 
their  conversation  and  looked  upon  me  with  much  interest, 
from  which  I  judged  that  my  story  was  already  known  to 
them  —  as  indeed  it  proved  to  be.  I  stood  now  before 
King  Cadwallon,  and  there  took  note  of  what  manner  of 
man  he  was.  It  seemed  the  Kentish  man  had  told  me  of 
him  well.  He  was  of  manly  height  and  framed  like  a  good 
warrior,  but  his  face  was  somewhat  drawn  and  the  look 
in  his  eyes  was  not  of  one  who  felt  his  power  supreme. 
Richly  garbed  he  was  and  grave  and  stately  of  demean 
our,  yet  lacked  his  eye  the  eagle  flash.  Naught  have  I  to 
say  against  this  King  Cadwallon,  naught,  though  it  came 
to  pass  that  I  knew  him  well  indeed  and  never  did  his 
friendship  fail  me,  but  I  could  have  wished  him  to  be  of  a 
front  more  confident  and  even  arrogant,  since  he  had 
about  him  such  wild  and  untamed  lords  and  chiefs  of 
clans.  I  shall  not  disapprove  Cadwallon. 

The  king  addressed  me  gravely,  saying  that  already 
he  somewhat  understood  my  story,  and  asked  me  that  I 
tell  it  to  him  with  more  fulness,  as  affecting,  it  might  be, 
his  own  decision  in  the  matter  of  his  course  toward  me.  I 
must  perforce  obey,  and  so  related  to  him  more  completely 
than  to  the  Lady  Goneril  all  circumstances  of  the  voyage 
which  brought  me  such  evil  fortune,  ending  with  what  I 


314  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

thought  a  not  unwise  addition  to  the  effect  that  we  Vikings 
had  no  war  with  Britons  and  had  never  sailed  against 
them. 

To  all  I  said  Cadwallon  listened  most  patiently  and,  it 
seemed  to  me,  almost  with  approbation.  He  answered 
that  it  was  very  true  that  we  had  not  forayed  in  Britain 
and  had  done  no  harm  at  any  time,  save  it  might  be  that 
some  reckless  ones  had  captured  a  few  currachs  of  the  fish 
ermen  who  ventured  too  far  at  sea,  for  which  no  grudge 
was  held  against  us,  and  he  added,  what  was  to  me  most 
heartening  and  promising,  that  we  were  kindred  in  spirit, 
while  not  of  blood,  in  hatred  of  the  Roman  and  that,  at 
this  time,  we  were  counted,  not  as  enemies,  but  as  allies 
in  whatever  of  war  was  likely  to  come  to  either  of  us. 
Then  he  spoke  still  further  to  me,  who  had  of  a  sudden 
become  most  emboldened  and  at  ease,  saying  that,  having 
known  of  me  from  Lady  Goneril  and  of  my  degree  in  my 
own  land,  he  had  it  in  mind  to  deal  with  me  as  one  of 
rank  and  one  having  knowledge  of  the  sea  and  ships  and 
also  of  the  Romans,  and  so  to  offer  me  service  with  him, 
with  such  command  as  might  be  later  determined. 

Here  was  sudden  change  of  fortune  surely  for  a  shipless 
man  and  prisoner  in  a  strange  land!  At  first  I  knew  not 
what  reply  to  make ;  then  as  it  came  upon  me  how  many  of 
my  friends  were  slain  and  how  bereft  I  was  of  all  things 
while  here  was  opportunity  for  adventure  which  might 
lead  to  important  happenings,  I  was  inclined  to  accept 
the  service,  though  still  I  hesitated,  for  a  Norseman  is 
ever  a  Norseman  utterly.  Then  rose  before  me  the  face 
of  a  woman  standing  in  a  chariot,  to  whom  I  had  given  a 
great  wordless  pledge,  and  I  paused  no  longer!  I  swore 


ALESIA  AND  THE  END  315 

to  give  good  service  to  the  king  and,  raising  me  from  my 
bent  knee,  he  declared  me  one  among  his  chieftains  and 
bade  me  join  the  nobles  about  and  make  new  friends,  with 
one  to  aid  me  who  was  waiting.  Then  turned  I  and  looked 
again  into  the  eyes  of  Goneril ! 

Most  prideful  and  stately  seemed  the  lady,  yet,  in  her 
dark  beauty,  there  was  laughter  in  her  eyes  as  she 
took  me  by  the  hand  and  led  me  among  the  company, 
making  me  known  to  many  of  them  and  saying,  as  she 
laughed,  that  the  king  had  accorded  me  her  thrall,  since 
she  had  taken  me  prisoner.  I  was,  she  said,  to  lead  her 
little  company  to  her  uncle's  hold,  there  to  acquire  a 
better  knowledge  of  Britain  speech  and  Britain  forests 
and  ways  of  fighting,  until  I  should  be  called  to  closer 
service  by  Cadwallon.  I  was  well  received  by  most, 
though  some  were  silent,  and  I  saw  among  the  company 
of  nobles  not  a  few  who  seemed  to  have  in  them  the  stuff 
of  hardy  fighting  men,  though  not  of  such  breed  as  were 
in  Jutland.  Some  slight  acquaintance  made  I,  but  there 
was  little  time  —  besides,  my  mind  was  much  on  Goneril. 

Next  morning,  with  a  slender  train,  we  set  out  on  our 
way  through  Kent.  Only  a  rune-maker  should  tell  of 
that  too  short  journey  through  the  Kentish  woods  and 
winding  pathways.  It  is  not  in  me  to  give  a  sense  of  its 
sweet  flavour.  Not  many  words  we  said  at  first,  but  we 
did  not  need  them.  We  only  knew  —  we  two,  each  proud 
and  close  of  heart  —  but  knew  as  others  might  not  know 
it,  yet  the  trees  knew  it,  and  the  birds  and  squirrels  in  the 
trees  knew,  and  the  horses  upon  which  we  rode.  Only 
the  men  who  followed  us  could  fail  to  know ! 

We  came  upon  the  evening  of  the  second  day  to  the 


316  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

hold  of  Gerguint,  who  had  married  Bera,  the  aunt  of 
Goneril,  where  we  were  received  as  became  the  princess* 
rank,  and  where  I  was  accorded  as  pleasing  welcome,  for 
a  messenger  had  arrived  ahead  of  us  to  tell  of  my  degree, 

Of  Gerguint,  whom  the  Romans  later  called  Carvilius, 
I  must  now  speak  freely,  as  soon  he  proved  himself  to  me, 
and  of  him  I  cannot  speak  too  well.  A  strong  prince  of 
a  strong  fourth  among  the  Kentishmen,  he  was  one  after 
my  own  heart,  fearing  nothing  and  having  that  under 
standing  which  makes  one  of  high  blood  know  of  and  rec 
ognize  that  which  may  be  in  another.  It  was  in  his  mind 
to  be  to  me  as  a  close  friend,  and  so  he  was  from  the  be 
ginning,  hunting  with  me  and  showing  to  me  all  the  differ 
ences  there  were  between  the  Viking  and  the  British  ways, 
both  in  the  chase  and  in  the  modes  of  warfare.  Much 
he  delighted  to  go  forth  with  me  in  my  Viking  ship,  which 
had  been  brought  along  the  coast  and  drawn  into  a  twin 
ing  small  river  entering  his  lands,  from  which  place  we 
made  short  voyages  along  the  coast.  The  Britains  were 
not  worthy  as  sailors  and  this  was  soon  perceived  by 
Gerguint,  who  now  desired  that  they  should  build  them 
better  vessels,  learning  the  things  which  would  serve 
greatly  for  their  own  defense,  and  this  he  sought  to  bring 
to  the  attention  of  the  king.  So  he  and  I  became  good 
friends. 

And  for  Goneril  and  myself  what  shall  I  say?  It  is 
hard  for  a  man  to  tell  properly,  so  that  it  may  be  at  all 
conceived  or  understood,  of  what  is  between  him  and  the 
woman  whose  breath  has  become  his  own.  No  difference 
made  it  with  us  that  the  blending  and  welding  had  been 
so  swift  and  unaccountable.  It  was  a  fate  met  willingly 


ALESIA  AND  THE  END  317 

and,  even  when  the  time  for  words  of  mine  had  come,  few 
were  demanded.  I  sought  to  tell,  in  my  unfashioned 
mode,  of  what  was  in  my  heart,  and  she  but  smiled  upon 
me  and  told  me  that  I  need  not  speak.  What  days  were 
ours  as  we  rode  the  glowing  Kentish  woods  in  the  late 
autumn  and  she  told  me  of  her  people's  ways  and  sought 
to  make  me  comprehend  them,  and  of  the  boundaries  and 
friendships  and  animosities  of  the  many  tribes  and  clans, 
and  all  else  that  might  tend  to  make  me  fitted  for  some 
rule  among  them. 

And  what  strange  half  history  and  legends  had  those 
islanders!  Of  these  dim  tales  my  Goneril  told  me  many, 
and  in  a  few  there  must  have  been  some  truth,  as  of  the 
great  king,  Belinus,  who  had  even  invaded  Gaul  and 
conquered  there.  His  sword  was  hidden,  it  was  said,  in 
the  heart  of  a  mighty  oak  tree,  but  none  knew  where  the 
oak  stood,  unless  it  might  be  held  among  the  Druid  mys 
teries.  And  many  another  story  and  tradition  of  the  Britons 
she  related,  not  less  curious.  She  knew  the  Gallic  tongue 
and  something  of  this  she  gave  to  me. 

Even  their  art  of  war  she  taught  me,  and  therein  made 
me  marvel.  In  her  full  veins  pulsed  only  warrior  blood 
and  made  itself  so  manifest  that  it  seemed  wondrous  that 
in  the  same  warm  current  ran  all  of  tenderest  womanhood 
and  faithfulness.  Indeed  she  was  herself  a  warrior  bold 
enough.  Well  do  I  bear  in  mind  the  first  time  she  took 
me  with  her  out  upon  the  sands  to  teach  me  chariot  driv 
ing,  and  how  in  the  essay  I  swayed  and  tottered,  guiding 
the  horses  bunglingly  as  we  rushed  along,  her  chariot  in 
the  lead,  circling  or  overtopping  and  descending  the  steep 
dunes,  or  darting  upward  from  the  beach,  to  swerve  and 


318  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

rock  along  a  hillside.  Never  in  any  storm  at  sea  had  I 
such  strain  to  keep  my  feet  beneath  me,  though  in  time  I 
gained  the  needed  reckless  skill,  to  Goneril's  vast  appro 
bation.  Most  solicitous  had  she  been  that  I  should  ex 
cel  in  this,  for  the  chariot  was  much  relied  upon  in  all  the 
battles  of  the  islanders.  In  fight,  the  warrior  had  with 
him  a  charioteer  who  drove  against  the  enemy  while  the 
warrior,  standing  beside  him,  fought  with  javelin  or  spear 
or  axe,  or  other  weapon,  as  the  ranks  were  neared  or  broken. 
When  the  melee  became  most  furious  the  warrior,  leap 
ing  from  his  place,  would  then  engage  on  foot,  the 
charioteer  withdrawing  from  the  fray  a  little  to  be  in 
readiness  in  case  of  swift  retreat  or  further  charge  on  a 
massed  body.  Most  formidable  were  these  chariots, 
though  only  when  they  were  afforded  ground  for  evolu 
tion.  In  the  close  forest  battles  they  were  useless. 

Winter  came,  sharp  and  keen  and  not  unpleasant  in 
this  land  of  Britain  with  its  climate  tempered  by  a  great 
sea  current  from  the  southwest,  and,  almost  before  it  had 
begun,  came  my  first  service  to  King  Cadwallon.  There 
had  come  an  uprising  of  a  certain  tribe  whose  overweening 
and  ambitious  chief  sought,  with  the  alliances  he  had  made, 
to  cast  off  the  king's  authority.  Gerguint  was  summoned 
to  attend  with  a  force,  which  I  was  to  accompany,  which 
body  was  joined  to  others,  and  soon  we  met  the  rebels  in 
the  northwest  forests.  It  was  not  a  long  campaign,  but 
there  were  sharp  skirmishes  and,  -finally,  a  battle  which 
was  one  of  merit  and  wherein  I  had  opportunity  for  the 
dealing  of  Viking  blows  when  much  they  counted.  It 
chanced,  too,  that  I  had  occasion  to  save  the  life  of  Ger 
guint,  who  had  risked  it  foolishly,  charging  ahead  among 


ALESIA  AND  THE  END  319 

the  savage  clansmen  and  going  down  beneath  a  mass  of 
them.  Hard  it  was  to  hew  a  way  to  him  and  lift  him  to 
his  feet  again  before  they  added  other  and  more  deadly 
spear-thrusts  to  the  ones  he  had  received,  but  I  was  well 
repaid.  There  came  occasion  for  such  gluttonous  fight 
ing,  to  shield  ourselves  until  our  own  warriors  reached  us, 
as  might  have  gorged  a  Baresark.  Thor !  but  it  was  good 
cleaving!  Back  to  back  we  stood,  and  I  could  ask  no 
better  shield  than  Gerguint.  Fairly  beholden  proved  he 
when  the  encounter  ended  with  the  night  and  the  death  of 
him  who  had  been  rebellious,  and  closer  yet  we  became 
in  comradeship.  We  swore  blood-brotherhood,  a  thing 
which  was  excellent  for  me  and  later  came  to  serve  me  in 
good  stead.  The  return  to  London  came,  and  there  the 
king,  to  whom  something  had  been  related  of  my  way  in 
battle,  had  good  words  for  me  and  made  promise  of  some 
honour. 

And  why  delay  the  story  of  what  was  the  crowning  of 
my  desire  and  great  and  overmastering  resolve?  I  asked 
that  Goneril  be  made  my  wife,  she  proudly  joining,  and 
Gerguint  did  not  fail  me  nor  did  the  Lady  Bera,  for  I  had 
become  as  of  the  family.  Then  was  the  King  Cad- 
wallon  sought,  and,  for  a  time,  he  hesitated.  Counting 
all,  I  was  but  an  adventurous  stranger  and  of  altogether 
alien  blood.  Yet,  since  that  blood  was  noble  and  since 
I  had  sworn  him  fealty  and  had  proved  myself  in  battle, 
and,  it  may  be,  also  because  he  felt  the  need  of  each  strong 
arm,  and,  above  all,  because  of  the  firm  words  of  Gerguint, 
he  at  last  gave  his  consent  and  had  grace  to  give  it  finely. 

There  was  a  great  attendance  of  the  Kentish  chieftains 
in  the  hall  of  Gerguint  and  of  many  from  the  court,  and 


320  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

there  was  our  marriage,  and  ceremonies  by  the  Druids — 
whose  former  power,  as  well  as  the  length  of  some  few  of 
them,  had  been  curtailed  by  good  King  Lud  —  and  abun 
dant  feasting  and  drinking  and  music  by  the  harpists;  and 
so  we  two,  thus  joined  before  all,  found  happily  what  life 
may  hold.  The  winter  passed,  and  spring  came,  and  in 
the  bursting  of  stream  and  bud  and  song  of  bird  there 
was  not  more  warmth  and  glory  than  in  ours.  So  passed 
the  days.  Then,  as  the  summer  neared,  a  pall  fell  on  the 
land! 

It  was  in  the  air,  a  vague  unrest  and  dread.  There  was 
no  frolicking  beneath  the  moon  in  any  of  the  scattered 
hamlets;  the  labourer  in  the  field  looked  often  toward  the 
wood;  the  hunter  moved  with  senses  more  alert;  the  wild 
beasts  themselves  one  thought  were  seeking  deeper  har 
bourage;  it  was  as  if  all  nature  were  afraid;  the  very  winds 
seemed  whispering  repeatedly,  in  fear,  the  one  word  — 
"Caesar!" 

The  alarm  had  come  across  the  sea  from  the  Veneti. 
A  little  vessel  of  that  friendly  people  had  eluded  the  Ro 
man  ships  patrolling  the  Gallic  shores,  and  so  reached 
Britain  with  news  of  recent  movements  of  the  devastator. 
He  had,  it  seemed,  been  engaged  in  suppressing  a  revolt 
of  the  Treviri,  who  lay  somewhere  near  the  Rhine,  but, 
meanwhile,  had  given  orders  that  a  great  number  of  ships 
should  be  made  in  readiness  for  his  army  at  a  port  called 
Itius,  lying  nearest  to  the  shores  of  Britain.  That  he  had 
it  in  mind  to  once  more  make  a  descent  upon  the  islanders 
was,  so  the  Veneti  messengers  declared,  a  thing  assured. 
It  was  this  fell  news  which  had  sped  through  Britain  and 
had  aroused  the  sudden  dread  of  which  I  have  already 


ALESIA  AND  THE  END  321 

spoken.  What  time  the  scathe  might  come  no  man 
could  tell. 

But  if  there  were  trembling  throughout  Britain  there 
came  also  the  courage  which  goes  with  desperation.  Feuds 
were  forgotten,  as  were  boundaries,  and  there  ensued 
wide  summoning  and  a  gathering  of  the  many  princes 
to  consider  swiftly  what  might  be  done  in  the  impending 
struggle  with  the  invader.  It  was  agreed  that  Cadwallon 
as  the  chief  among  the  southeastern  rulers  of  the  island, 
and  in  sort  an  overlord  of  some,  should  have  the  supreme 
command,  and  then  the  warriors  came  from  every  part, 
ranging  themselves  under  their  own  leaders  and  forming,  at 
last,  a  great  force  of  charioteers  and  archers  and  spearmen 
and  hosts  of  the  wild  skin-clad  forest  men,  an  army  numer 
ous  as  the  leaves,  but  all  in  bands  and  with  little  discipline 
or  order.  So  in  and  about  the  southern  hills  the  great 
force  hung.  Then,  one  day,  at  noontime,  there  showed 
across  the  sea  a  mighty  spread  of  sail.  Caesar  would 
strike ! 

Eight  hundred  sail!  What  scores  of  thousands  of  the 
trained  legionaries  must  they  carry  and  what  chance  had 
an  unordered  host  in  an  encounter  on  open  even  ground? 
It  was  decided  by  the  leaders  not  to  give  battle  at  the 
shore,  where  the  nature  of  the  beach  gave  easy  landing 
to  the  Romans,  but  rather  to  meet  them  on  the  high  places, 
which  had  been  fortified  in  a  rude  way  by  the  felling  of 
many  trees  in  front  of  them.  Here  we  awaited  the  at 
tack. 

Of  that  first  desperate  struggle  against  the  veteran  foe  I 
can  tell  but  vaguely,  for  I  was  in  its  midst,  fighting  as  for 
my  life  and  unseeing  as  to  the  general  battle.  Fiercely 


322  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

we  charged  and  drove  among  the  enemy  with  our  chari 
ots,  but  could  not  shatter  them.  These  were  the  trained 
slayers  of  the  world,  and  when  one  rank  wavered  or  was 
broken,  another  rose  behind  it  and  ever  the  whole  pressed 
forward,  killing  as  it  came  and  irresistible  against  a  force 
with  no  planned  manner  of  cohesion.  We  were  driven 
backward,  though  fighting  stubbornly,  and,  finally,  the 
enemy  overwhelmed  and  seized  the  camp,  and  the  Britons, 
leaving  a  host  of  dead,  were  driven  into  the  forests.  There 
was  a  kind  of  re-formation  and  then  began  the  running 
fight  of  days,  as  Caesar  neared  the  capital.  There  were 
bloody  stands  and  skirmishes  and  we  cut  off  many  of  the 
Romans  in  the  woods,  but  nothing  could  stay  their  firm 
advance. 

My  Goneril  was  in  London,  where  I  had  thought  her 
most  secure  in  this  time  of  great  jeopardy,  though  stub 
bornly  she  had  insisted  on  following  me  into  the  field. 
Gerguint  had  joined  his  brother  Kentish  princes,  and  to 
gether  they  had  attacked  the  Roman  camp  left  with  the 
ships  and  had  been  beaten,  and  there  had  Gerguint  been 
sorely  wounded  and,  barely  escaping,  had  been  carried 
to  the  harbourage  of  his  castle.  The  main  body  of  the 
Britons  was  now  within  and  about  London,  and  Cad- 
wallon  was  to  make  his  last  stand  against  the  approach 
ing  army  of  Caesar,  which  threatened  the  passage  of  a 
ford  above  the  city.  At  this  ford  all  must  be  decided. 

There  had  been  treachery.  Mandubratius,  crafty  and 
wavering  chief  of  the  Trohantes,  to  save  himself,  had  cast 
his  lot  with  Caesar.  Androgeus,  a  chief  in  command  in 
London  itself,  had  turned  against  Cadwallon  and  was  tam 
pering  with  the  conqueror;  and  all  these  things  gave  fear. 


ALESIA  AND  THE  END  323 

Yet  we  would  make  such  stand  as  should  be  remembered 
long,  and  so  all  Cadwallon's  forces  were  drawn  up  beside 
the  ford  to  dispute  its  passage.  The  Romans  came,  their 
legions  rolling  to  the  shore  and  entering  the  waters  boldly 
while  our  own  massed  armament  stood  awaiting  them  with 
eager  weapons,  a  multitude  looking  upon  us  from  the  slope 
behind,  even  our  women  among  them,  as  was  the  Briton's 
way.  Then  came  the  clash  and  struggle. 

As  the  Romans  neared  the  land,  avoiding  as  best  they 
could  the  sharpened  stakes  which  had  been  set  against 
them,  their  onrush  was  almost  hidden  by  the  cloud  of 
spears  and  arrows  falling  upon  them,  and  many  were 
slain  and  carried  downward  by  the  glad  current  of  the 
British  river,  but  there  was  no  checking  them.  Some 
struggled  through  and  others  followed  as  the  first  were 
slain,  and  soon  the  ranks  had  gained  a  footing,  their  front 
being  lopped  off  as  it  came,  but  ever  heaved  forward  by 
the  tremendous  mass  behind.  As  in  the  surges  of  a  grow 
ing  storm,  each  succeeding  wave  crept  further  up  the  shore 
and  the  fight  was  soon  on  land.  Though  hate  is  in  my 
heart  for  them,  let  none  speak  lightly  of  the  dauntless 
courage  or  the  stern  hardihood  and  discipline  of  the 
Roman  soldiers.  Those  ranks  of  iron  pressed  forward, 
though  we  raged  among  them  with  our  chariots  and  met 
them  manfully  on  foot  with  blows  as  fierce  as  their  own 
and  thrusts  as  deadly.  But  what  could  avail  such  ragged 
and  open  charge  as  made  the  wild  Britons  against  an 
advancing  wall  which  ever  renewed  itself  as  it  was  broken 
here  and  there?  I,  myself,  fought  side  by  side  with 
chieftains  of  the  Iceni,  kinsmen  of  Goneril,  with  whom  I 
had  made  friendship,  and  well  they  bore  themselves. 


324  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES  ; 

High  up  the  slope  were  the  Romans  now,  and  there  was 
at  the  front  much  intermingling  of  the  opposing  forces. 
My  charioteer  had  fallen,  and  the  horses  had  been  slain,  and 
I,  on  foot,  was  making  red  my  heavy  Viking  battle-axe, 
but  in  dire  peril,  for  we  were  driven  backward  step  by 
step  and  soon  I  was  half  surrounded  and  felt  a  wound  or 
two  and  began  to  breathe  too  heavily.  Then  came  to  my 
ears  a  woman's  cry.  Circling  downward  and  at  one  side 
from  the  slope  above  where  were  the  onlooking  multitude, 
had  come  Goneril,  driven  by  grizzled  Leir,  her  charioteer, 
and  swinging  to  the  front  and  very  centre  where  she  knew 
I  would  be  found.  There  had  been  none  who  could  re 
strain  her.  Mad  with  her  fear  for  me,  wild  as  a  she-bear 
for  her  bayed  mate,  she  had  come  storming  on  the  battle 
field,  her  dark  hair  streaming  and  the  love  flame  in  her 
eyes,  seeking  only  to  be  with  me,  even  in  death  together. 
And  timely  was  her  coming,  for  I  had  been  beaten  to  my 
knee  and  was  in  sore  strait.  Surely  the  gods  guided,  for 
the  chariot  came  to  me  through  the  melee  as  the  wild  bull 
through  brush,  and  I  was  lifted  to  it  by  Leir's  strong  arm 
as,  scarcely  slacking  in  its  course,  it  passed  athwart  the 
raging  lines  and  so  away  toward  safety.  And,  even  at 
that  moment,  as  Goneril  bent  down  toward  me  tenderly, 
there  came  a  Roman  javelin  which  drove  deep  into  her 
side  and,  as  it  lurched  out  and  away  with  the  chariot's 
surge,  left,  following  it,  a  rush  of  her  dear  heart's  blood, 
drenching  her  robe  with  red.  Into  my  arms  she  sank, 
and  so  I  held  her  until,  flying,  we  reached  the  wood,  then 
laid  her  gently  down  on  the  greensward. 

What  can  I  say  of  that  awful,  awaiting  moment,  or  of 
what  came?     She  was  still  alive,  my  glorious  Briton  girl. 


"  I  am  weakening  and  dying.      The  Valkyrie 
are  circling  in  the  sky  " 


ALESIA  AND  THE  END  325 

She  smiled  upon  me  and  sought  to  reach  up  her  arms  about 
my  neck,  and  could  not;  then  sighed  a  little  and  there 
died!  Then  all  things  passed  away,  and  I  fell  as  dead 
beside  her. 

There  is  little  more  to  tell  of  Britain.  Caesar  had 
triumphed;  London  had  fallen;  the  conqueror  had  wreaked 
his  stern  will  upon  the  land;  Cadwallon  had  yielded  and 
had  agreed  to  pay  tribute,  and  Csesar,  taking  hostages 
and  many  prisoners  to  be  sold  as  slaves  in  Roman  marts, 
had  sailed  away.  For  a  hard  four  hundred  years  the 
Roman  heel  would  press  on  Britain's  neck.  What  was 
all  this  now  to  me!  They  had  carried  me  and  my  dead 
Goneril  away  into  the  forest  and,  joined  by  certain  of 
her  kinsmen  who  had  escaped,  we  took  up  our  journey 
with  my  dead  to  the  country  of  the  Iceni,  where  they 
would  bury  her  with  the  ceremonies  befitting  such  a 
princess.  All  this  we  did,  but  I  could  speak  no  word. 
Men  looked  upon  me  with  a  sort  of  fear.  My  speech 
seemed  lost,  but  came  at  last  with  the  new  swelling  of 
the  heart  and  the  humming  of  the  dark  thoughts  in  my 
head.  Nothing  of  Britain  knew  I  longer.  I  was  a  Viking 
again  with  only  Viking  gods  and  Viking  thoughts,  and 
these  transformed  me.  Csesar  had  slain  my  Briton  girl 
and,  though  it  were  forced  or  proffered,  all  the  weregild 
of  all  the  Roman  world  could  bring  no  solace.  Goneril 
was  dead,  and  henceforth  I  lived  but  to  bring  death  such 
as  I  might  to  every  Roman !  No  oath  of  vengeance  needed 
I  to  take  on  the  white  holy  stone  of  Odin's  priests.  I 
sought  Gerguint,  still  wounded  in  his  castle,  and  was 
received  as  if  the  castle  was  my  own,  but  abode  there 
only  as  a  sihnt  and  unheeding  guest.  Time  passed  and, 


326  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

finally,  I  sought  the  little  band  of  those  I  had  hardened 
and  taught  to  sail  my  shield-ship,  and  they  joined  me 
nothing  loth,  and  in  the  darkness  of  a  stormy  night  we 
crossed  to  the  coast  of  Gaul,  where  I  would  fight  against 
the  Romans,  for  secret  word  came  that  there  was  nearing 
a  head  a  vast  uprising  to  cast  off  the  Roman  yoke. 

Far  to  the  south  and  west  we  laid  our  course,  for  I  would 
hold  it  so  well  out  at  sea  that  we  might  avoid  the  Roman 
ships  now  haunting  all  the  Gallic  coast.  Some  days  we 
sailed  and,  at  last,  having  escaped  them,  made  entrance 
at  the  mouth  of  a  fair  river  called  the  Seine  and  sailed 
inland  upon  it  until  we  reached  an  island  where  was  a 
town,  the  capital  of  a  partly  maritime  and  trading  people, 
the  Parisii,  who,  because  of  their  lack  of  strength,  had 
allied  themselves  with  the  Senones,  a  more  powerful  tribe 
lying  to  the  south  of  them.  In  this  capital  of  the  Parisii, 
or  Paris,  though  called  Lutetia  by  the  Romans,  were  many 
who  understood  the  Briton  tongue;  my  small  possession 
of  Gallic  also  aided  us  somewhat  and  we  were  received 
with  willingness  and  provided  with  food  and  a  place  for 
harbourage.  The  scene  about  us  was  of  utmost  tumult. 

It  was  winter  now  and  all  Gaul  was  aflame  with  the 
hope  of  casting  off  the  Roman  power,  in  which  great  en 
terprise  the  various  tribes  had,  after  a  council,  ranged 
themselves  under  the  leadership  of  Vercingetorix,  a  noble 
of  the  Arverni,  and  than  of  whom  they  could  not  have 
made  wiser  choice  or  one  more  likely  to  be  followed  by 
great  outcome.  Not  only  was  he  a  man  of  courage  and 
much  skill  in  warfare,  but  also  one  who  thought,  not  for 
himself  alone,  but  calmly  for  the  general  good.  Already 
had  he  a  strong  army  in  the  field  and  was,  after  some 


ALESIA  AND  THE  END  327 

slight  successes,  seeking  to  check  the  advance  of  Caesar 
upon  Avaricum,  the  chief  city  of  the  Biturges,  and  one 
which  should  have  been  abandoned.  Vercingetorix  had 
pleaded  with  the  Biturges  that  they  should  sacrifice  it 
for  the  sake  of  the  whole  country,  that  it  might  not  fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  Romans  and  so  give  them  stores 
and  shelter  until  they  might  carry  on  the  invasion  to 
better  advantage  when  spring  should  come.  In  this  he 
was  overruled  or  overpersuaded  by  his  assembled  leaders, 
for  the  Gauls  had  some  of  the  weaknesses  of  tjie  Britons, 
in  that  they  were  most  difficult  to  control  as  a  united  body. 
So  Csesar  was  advancing,  though  but  slowly,  upon  the 
city,  and  Vercingetorix  was  hanging  near  him  with  his 
forces,  making  sudden  attacks  upon  his  flanks  and  with 
drawing  swiftly  and  with  much  display  of  wise  general 
ship  as  the  need  came.  To  Vercingetorix,  then,  came  I  at 
once,  followed  by  my  little  handful  of  adventurous  Britons 
who  were  most  faithful  and  men  of  hardihood,  for  such  I 
had  selected  for  my  shield-ship. 

In  this  journey  I  attached  myself  to  a  small  force  led 
by  one  Critognatus,  an  Arvernian  of  note,  who  had  come 
to  Lutetia  to  encourage  in  the  uprising  and  was  now  on 
his  way  to  rejoin  the  Gallic  army.  Him  I  found  a  man  of 
firmness  of  mind  and  of  a  fierce  and  unbounded  patriotism, 
and  he  it  was  who  promised  to  bring  me  personally  to 
Vercingetorix. 

Through  many  a  devious  forest  path,  across  many  a 
silent  stream  and  over  wide  frozen  marshes,  we  took  our 
way  and  reached  the  Gallic  camp  on  the  evening  of  the 
third  day.  It  made  an  amazing  and  curious  sight,  with 
its  far  extending  fires  beneath  the  trees  of  the  dense  wood 


328  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

lighting  the  ways  between  hosts  of  rude  shelters  of 
boughs  or  sods  or  tents  of  skins  until  the  lights  but  twink 
led  in  the  distance,  for  it  was  a  huge  force  which  had  now 
gathered.  Through  a  long  way  I  was  guided  by  Crit- 
ognatus  to  see  that  I  had  audience.  The  tent  of  Ver- 
cingetorix  stood  near  the  centre  of  the  camp  and  was 
somewhat  larger  than  the  others  and  had  sentries  at  its 
door.  I  was  taken  within  by  Critognatus  and  my  name 
and  mission  told  to  Vercingetorix,  but  I  need  have  had 
no  sponsor. 

Most  cordial  was  my  greeting,  though  of  a  certain 
dignity,  for  Vercingetorix  was  one  of  a  commanding  and 
grave  air,  albeit  his  eyes  gleamed  brightly.  There  proved 
occasion  for  little  speech.  Of  all  that  had  occurred  in 
Britain  this  wise  leader  had  made  himself  acquainted 
and  it  so  chanced  that  he  knew  my  story  well,  and  well 
could  understand  what  impulse  drove  me  now  and  what 
manner  of  service  I  might  give.  He  placed  me  with  the 
command  of  Critognatus,  and,  upon  my  asking,  directed 
him  to  allow  me,  under  my  own  leadership,  a  company  of 
some  hundred  of  a  wild  outlying  clan  of  the  Arverni, 
with  whom  I  might  adventure  in  my  own  way.  Glad  was  I 
then! 

What  days  and  nights  of  brooding  came  to  me!  Ever 
I  saw  the  tomb  of  Goneril  or  the  fanes  of  my  own  gods! 
No  puling  gods  of  the  weak  races  they,  but  war  gods  and 
gods  of  vengeance!  Wild  and  savage  and  unf earing  was 
my  band  of  an  outlandish  mountain  group  to  whom  I  had 
joined  my  few  of  Britons,  and  whom  I  now  trained  to 
more  knowing  warfare,  but  even  they  were  scarcely  equal 
to  the  fierceness  and  persistence  of  their  leader.  No 


ALESIA  AND  THE  END  329 

venturing  foragers  from  the  Roman  camp  were  safe  from 
our  ambushes  or  sudden  onslaught,  for  I  hovered  like  a 
wolf  about  a  fold,  and  many  a  legionary's  blood  made  the 
snow  brighter  in  my  eyes.  There  came  to  me  something 
of  a  name,  and  I  was  made  welcome  among  the  Gallic 
chieftains,  stately  in  their  glittering  helmets  and  tunics 
and  rich  furs,  and  some  of  them  most  gallant  men  and 
good,  but  I  could  not  be  as  One  with  them.  I  held  myself 
aloof  in  a  stern  loneliness.  They  were  not  of  me  or  mine. 
What  says  the  Norsemen's  rune : 

"Gasps  and  gapes 
When  to  the  sea  he  comes 
The  eagle  over  old  ocean; 
So  is  a  man 

Who  among  many  comes 
And  has  no  advocates." 

But  little  recked  I  of  it  all.  I  only  sought  and  slew 
with  my  hardened  following.  Then,  later,  fell  Avaricum, 
and  Caesar,  his  army  fed  and  rested,  turned  toward 
Vercingetorix,  who,  after  some  well  fought  but  unavailing 
battles,  entrenched  himself  in  the  city  of  Alesia,  where 
he  awaited  the  issues.  Alesia  was  a  town  of  the  Man- 
dubii  and  one  well  fortified  and  of  importance,  founded 
anciently,  it  was  related,  as  a  trading-place  of  the  Phoe 
nicians.  It  lay  upon  the  flat  crest  of  a  great  hill,  almost 
a  mountain,  and  was  protected  on  two  sides  by  the  rivers 
Lutosa  and  Osera.  In  the  front  the  mountain  sloped 
down  into  a  plain  a  league  in  width,  behind  which,  at 
some  distance,  rose  other  hills  which  surrounded  the  plain 
completely.  The  army  of  Vercingetorix  now  occupied 
the  wide  slope  of  the  city's  hill  down  to  the  plain  and  had 


330  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

made  before  it  a  long  deep  trench  and  a  stone  wall  the 
height  of  a  man  throughout.  Upon  the  plain  and  nearer 
the  hills  were  arrayed  the  Romans,  who  began  at  once  a 
gigantic  work  of  encircling  fortifications  such  as  I  had 
never  seen  before  and  which  gave  me  new  comprehension 
of  the  utter  inflexibility  and  hungry  and  all-conquering 
resolve  of  this  great  Csesar.  None  other  could  have  de 
vised  so  vast  a  plan,  and  by  no  other  army  than  his  could 
it  be  executed.  The  inner  circuit  of  this  enclosing  zone 
was  a  full  ten  miles  in  length  and,  gigantic  as  was  the  work, 
there  was  built  in  front  of  it  a  trench  twenty  feet  in  depth 
and  of  the  same  width,  and,  within  this  and  nearer  the 
fortifications,  two  other  trenches  each  fifteen  feet  deep  and 
wide,  and  filled  with  water  let  in  from  the  river.  All  this 
was  as  a  hindrance  and  protection  against  any  sudden 
sally  by  the  Gauls,  of  whom  there  were  with  Vercinget- 
orix  some  hundred  thousand.  Not  only  this,  but,  at  a  dis 
tance  and  in  the  rear  of  Csesar's  army,  was  erected  another 
and  longer  line  of  defense  against  the  Gauls  elsewhere, 
who  were  rallying  in  great  numbers  to  come  to  Vercinget- 
orix's  assistance.  I  had  somewhere  heard  a  strange  tale 
of  a  huge  serpent  which  had  coiled  its  vast  length  around 
an  Afric  village  and  engulfed  the  starving  groups  as  they 
came  forth  in  desperation,  and  the  thought  came  to  me 
again  with  this  coiling  of  the  awaiting  serpent,  Csesar. 

There  were  sharp  conflicts  as  the  work  progressed,  for 
we  made  frequent  sallies  from  our  wall,  and  there  was  one 
fight  of  the  cavalry  which  caused  great  loss  on  both  sides 
and  might  have  ended  still  more  hardly  for  the  Romans 
had  not  Caesar  sent  to  their  aid  a  great  force  of  the  Ger 
mans  who  were  with  him,  and  who  fought  solidly  and  well 


ALESIA  AND  THE  END  331 

together.  Much  it  enraged  me  to  behold  these  Germans, 
for  they  were  somewhat  of  the  same  blood  as  my  own. 

Still  grew  the  Roman  fortifications  and  the  whole 
thing  was  marvellous.  Each  Roman  soldier,  it  seemed, 
was  trained  to  every  sort  of  labour  and  accustomed  to 
it  as  to  the  march  or  battlefield.  The  army  was  made  up 
of  legions,  containing  from  three  thousand  to  six  thousand 
men;  the  legion  was  divided  into  ten  cohorts,  the  cohort 
into  three  maniples,  and  the  maniple  into  two  centuries, 
and  each  moved  as  if  a  part  of  one  great  being.  Never 
before  was  army  a  machine  so  deadly,  propelling  itself 
in  whole  or  in  its  smallest  part  as  guided  by  a  single  mind. 
What  Briton  or  Gallic  force,  however  great,  could  cope 
with  this! 

And  now  came  anxious  days  to  Vercingetorix.  The 
promised  succour  was  delayed,  and  famine  threatened.  It 
was  resolved  to  send  away  the  helpless  people  of  the  Man- 
dubii,  but  they  could  not  pass  the  Romans.  Very  early 
in  the  siege  Vercingetorix  had  fairly  divided,  man  by  man, 
all  corn  and  cattle  and  other  food,  and  this  was  near  its 
end.  A  council  of  the  leaders  was  now  held  at  which  was 
to  be  considered  the  best  course  to  be  taken,  and  at  this 
council  Critognatus  spoke  most  eloquently,  counselling 
a  sally  and  a  swift  determining  of  the  great  issue,  however 
fatal.  Then  came  the  news  by  messengers  who  had 
passed  the  enemy  that  our  allies  had  come  and  that,  under 
the  leadership  of  Commius,  they  were  about  to  attack  the 
Romans  in  great  force ! 

There  was  no  faltering  now !  We  must  sally  forth  when 
our  allies  made  their  attack.  The  assault  soon  came,  and 
for  two  days  there  were  fierce  charge  and  countercharge 


332  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

and  much  slaughter,  the  Gauls  outside  assailing  the  far 
ther  Roman  works  as  did  we  the  inner  ones.  On  the 
fourth  day  came  the  bloody  climax. 

There  was  at  the  extremity  of  the  Romans'  northern 
line  a  hill  which  could  not  easily  be  included  in  their  works, 
and  the  outer  Gauls  had  perceived  this  hill's  advantage. 
They  took  from  their  main  army  sixty  thousand  of  their 
best  men,  and  these,  under  command  of  Vergasillaunus, 
passed  round  and  seized  the  hill  at  night.  At  noon,  it 
was  decided,  this  great  force  should  make  its  charge. 
Then  all  would  join  the  battle  and  all  knew  that,  before 
the  night  fell,  there  would  come  an  end  either  of  free  Gaul 
or  of  the  dreadful  Caesar! 

My  axe  was  red  with  Roman  blood.  My  arm  was 
wearied  and  my  body  sore  that  night,  and  through  the 
brief  hours  of  rest  I  snatched  I  slept  but  fitfully.  That 
my  sleep  would  fail  me  in  the  night  to  come  I  had  no  fear, 
for  I  knew  in  my  heart  what  must  befall.  It  did  not 
daunt  me.  What  warrior  had  done  better?  What  says 
the  Havamal  of  Odin: 

"Cattle  die, 
Kindred  die, 
We  ourselves  also  die; 
But  the  fair  fame 
Never  dies 
Of  one  who  deserves  it!'* 

At  noon  the  battle  burst  with  utmost  fury,  as  Vergasil 
launus  hurled  his  force  upon  the  Romans  and,  almost  at 
the  same  time,  we  from  within  assailed  the  ramparts. 
Nothing  could  stay  us.  The  ditches  were  filled  with  clay 
and  hurdles,  the  walls  were  mounted,  their  defenders 
slain,  the  turrets  cleared,  and  we  burst  fairly  through  the 


ALESIA  AND  THE  END  333 

breached  wall  and  struck  our  foes  on  even  ground.  What 
foaming  struggle  then,  what  vengeance  sought  for  wrongs, 
what  strokes  for  freedom!  Should  victory  come  to  him, 
what  mercy  would  he  show,  this  harsh  and  treacherous 
Caesar!  Even  I,  who  fought  for  my  own  hand  and  for 
my  vengeance,  could  not  but  feel  hate  with  the  Gauls. 
For  this  man  surely  the  gods  must  have  a  punishment. 
The  noble  Vercingetorix  may  grace  his  triumph,  to  be 
later  murdered  in  a  Roman  dungeon;  each  Roman  soldier 
may  boast  a  Gallic  slave;  a  servile  populace  may  greet 
the  conqueror  madly,  but  certainly  the  evil  day  and  evil 
end  must  come.  May  the  daggers  of  false  friends  some 
time  await  him ! 

We  raged  ahead  and  slew,  but  ever  came  swinging  into 
support  the  Roman  legions  in  the  way  I  knew  so  well  from 
Britain.  And  no  longer  could  we  force  them.  Oh,  for  a 
thousand  of  my  wild  Jutlanders,  Angle,  Saxon,  or  Jute,  I 
cared  not,  to  hew  a  way  with  me  into  those  solid  ranks! 
There  came  a  sudden  rush  and  so  close  a  press  about  me 
that  I  had  not  room  for  the  swinging  of  my  wet  axe. 
The  Roman  short  sword  is  most  keen  and,  driven  into  a 
man's  side  and  cleanly  through  him,  he  must  reach  the 
earth.  The  feet  of  a  host  of  charging  legionaries  passed 
over  and  beyond  me,  and  there  came  to  my  ears  their 
distant  shout  of  triumph. 

The  blood  is  flowing  from  my  side  and  I  am  weakening 
and  dying.  The  Valkyrie  are  circling  in  the  sky.  It  is 
the  end.  How  will  they  appear  to  me  and  how  receive 
me,  Odin,  the  all-father;  Thor,  the  hammerer;  Balder,  the 
beautiful,  and  Freyja  and  all  the  great  queens  and  warriors 
of  the  past?  That  must  be  as  it  may  be.  I  have  fought 


334  A  SON  OF  THE  AGES 

well.  And  now  even  the  gods  are  lost  in  mist.  Strange 
visions  are  coming  to  me,  visions  of  shining  seas  and  the 
vast  ocean,  of  warm,  palm-clad  lands  and  lands  of  ice 
and  snow,  of  plains  and  forests  and  the  dark  mountain 
passes,  of  a  thousand  fierce  encounters  and  of  other  and 
more  gentle  things.  Above  and  beyond  all,  I  see  a  crea 
ture,  soft-furred  of  arm,  dark-eyed  and  wild  and  beauti 
ful  of  her  kind,  near  to  me  in  the  lofty  treetops  and  gazing 
at  me  gravely  from  between  leaved  branches ! 


THE   END 


COUNTRY    LIFE    PRESS 
GARDEN   CITY,   N.  Y. 


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AUG      7  1934 


Sfcf    111936 


/ 


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S-B78- 


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